Full text of "New reclamation era"

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INDEX 

NEW RECLAMATION ERA. VOLUME XX 

For the year 1929 



Page numbers for separate issues 



No. Month Pages 

1. January 1-16 

2. February 17-32 

3. March 33-48 

4. April 49-64 

5. May ._. 65-80 

6. June.. . 81-96 



No. Month Pages 

7. July 97-112 

8. August 113-128 

9. September 129-144 

10. October 145-160 

11. November 161-176 

12. December.. . 177-192 



A Page 

Abandoned land, making profitable use of 105 

Adams, Prof. Frank, essential factors in deler- 

mining the feasibility of a project 181 

Aided and directed settlement, a practical dem- 
onstration 30 

Alfalfa field, Orland project (J. N. Cook's) 128 

Alfalfa hay in Oregon, cost and efficiency in 

producing 190 

All-American Canal, Boulder Canyon project, 

contract providing for survey 106 

Allocation of power -Boulder Dam power con- 
ference 170 

Almonds on the Orland project, growing 39 

American Falls Dam, Minidoka project, Idaho 26 

Apples grown on reclamation projects in 1928-- 172 

Appropriation act for fiscal year 1930 55 

Appropriations, power revenues, and advanced 

funds Funds available, fiscal year 1930 96 

Australia, aided and directed settlement in 158 

economic problems of reclamation in New 

South Wales 140 

New South Wales, weed control in irrigation 

canals.. 137 



B 



Banks, F. A., problems in handling large con- 
struction work by contract 182 

Bashore, H. W., the settlement problem of .the 

Vale and Owyhee projects 152 

Beet-sugar factories on the Federal reclamation 

projects, 1928 158 

Belle Fourche project, dairy show on 44 

products, exhibit at State fair held in Sep- 
tember, 1929 December cover 

Black Canyon dam site, profile of November cover 

Boise project, Deadwood Dam, work starts on.. 138 
8449429 



Boulder Canyon land, warning notice for 

model town on the world's greatest artificial 
lake 

project act, chart analyzing May 

profile map November 

project act, digest of 

project act of December 21, 1928, made 
effective by proclamation issued by Presi- 
dent Hoover on June 25, 1929 

project, survey for All-American Canal 

(contract) 

Boulder Dam, applications for power, notice 

regarding 

fostered by Yuma Conservation Club 

power conference ;md allocation of power. _ 

project, Colorado River Board report 

project, the relation of maps and surveys to. 

site viewed by airplane 

Bureau of Reclamation, the problems and accom- 
plishments of 



Page 
119 

189 

cover 

cover 

18 



114 
106 

155 
136 

170 
2 

84 
133 

34 



California, riparian rights in 14 

Capital requirements of settlers 110 

Carload shipments to and from railroad stations 

on specified Federal irrigation projects in 1928. 163 
Carload shipments to and from the projects, 

1928, chart December cover 

Cement association conducts lecture course at 

Denver office 119 

Ceylon, aided and directed settlement in 172 

Chamber of Commerce of United States indorses 

Federal reclamation 166 

Christmas fund society 11 

Christmas greetings from Secretary Wilbur 177 

Citrus development in Lower Rio Grande Valley, 

Tex.. 77 



Page 
Classification and appraisal of land on new 

projects 107 

Clegg, C. B., Gila River Suspension Bridge 142 

Colorado River Board reports on Boulder Dam 

project 2 

Colorado River, digest of Boulder Canyon proj- 
ect act 18 

explorations, investigations, and reports, 

brief chronology 85 

list of congressional reports on the 126 

model town for Boulder Canyon 189 

President Hoover issues proclamation mak- 
ing effective Boulder Canyon project act. 114 
profile showing principal dam sites. 

November cover 
Columbia Basin chairman, reply to by article on 

Idaho's interest in project 69 

Columbia Basin project, Idaho's interest in 66 

Community small farms, address by Doctor 
Mead before National Association of Real 

Estate Boards 98 

Conference at Denver, Colo., March 13-15, 

1929 23, 54 

Construction work by contract, problems in 

handling 182 

Cotton grown on the projects in 1928 175 

Crops, reclamation and 95 

D 

Dairy industry, Yuma project offers opportunity 

to expand 167 

Dairying, cooperative, on the Minidoka project. 10 

Dairy show on Belle Fourche project 44 

Danish agriculture, general survey of 180 

Dare, Hon. H. H., economic problems of reclama- 
tion in New South Wales, Australia 140 

Deadwood Dam, Boise project, Idaho, work 

starts on 138 

Denmark, an agricultural example 24 

Denver conference, March 13-15, 1929 23,54 

Denver office organization chart, including force 

for Boulder Dam 112 

Dixon, Hon. Joseph M., President Hoover's 
proposed public-land and reclamation policy. 146 

Don Martin project, Mexico 100 

Drainage work cooperative results by contract 
and by Government forces, by J. R. lakisch, 
engineer, Denver 124 

E 

Economic and social value of Federal irrigation 

projects, address of G. C. Kreutzer 130 

Economic problems of reclamation in New South 

Wales, Australia 140 

Reports of Dr. Alvin Johnson and Dr. E. 

C. Branson 19 

Economic survey: 

of certain reclamation projects 82 

of Reclamation, 1929 115 

of Reclamation, report on 189 

Electricity, running the farm by, in Washington. 12 



Pago 
Electric power development on Newlands 

project 58 

Electrification, rural, progress on the Salt 

River project, Arizona 151 

Engineers and economists, employment of, for 

consultation purposes (legislation) 191 

Evaporation on Federal reclamation projects... 93 

F 

Feasibility of a project, essential factors in 

determi ni ng 181 

Federal reclamation Its achievements and 

needs 162 

strongly indorsed in recent resolutions 166 

Fertilizer, sulphur as 47 

Financing settlers on irrigation projects, a 

working example 71 

Fort Quitman, Tex., Rio Grande compact with 

respect to use of waters of river above 74 

Freight tonnage and irrigation 31 

Fruit production and orchard development, 

Tieton division, Yakima project 42 

Funds available, fiscal year 1930 96 



G 



Gila River Suspension Bridge, 20 miles east of 

Yuma, Ariz 142 

Gill, Roy R., and a reply by Columbia Basin 

chairman (Idaho's interest) 69 

Government subsidy in settlement 35 

Grand Valley project, Palisade peaches 188 

Grasshoppers, control of by use of poisoned 

bran mash and egg-bed cultivation 173 



Henderson, C. A., control of grasshoppers by 
use of poisoned bran mash and egg-bed culti- 
vation 173 

Hoover, President, issues proclamation making 
effective the Boulder Canyon project act of 
December 31, 1928 114 

Hoover's proposed public-land and reclamation 

policy 146 

Houk, Ivan E., American Falls Dam 26 

evaporation on Federal reclamation proj- 
ects.. --- 93 

How the Other Fellow Does It 133 



lakisch, J. R., drainage work Cooperative re- 
sults by contract and by Government forces. . 124 

Idaho's interest in Columbia Basin project 66 

India, Bhatgar, the Lloyd Dam 46 

International Water Commission, United Stales 

and Mexico, meeting of, in Mexico City 143 

meets in Washington, D. C 171 

third session 187 

Irrigation and^freight tonnage 

Irrigation a world influence , 191 



Page 

Irrigation district board of directors, discre- 
tionary powers of 14 

Irrigation in foreign countries, report 59 

Italy plans large reclamation program 158 



Johnston, W. W., classification and appraisal of 107 
land on new projects 

K 

Kerr, T. S., Idaho's interest in the Columbia 

Basin project 66 

Kittitas project, advertising the 127 

Kreutzer, George C., dies in office 178 

Federal irrigation projects, their economic 

and social value 130 

Soil survey, the foundation of successful 

reclamation development 20 

Status of Federal reclamation work in the 

United States 4 

Kuhns, B. E., purebred sheep on the Minidoka 

project 46 



Land clearing in the Upper Kit tit us district, 

Yakima project. 87 

Legislation enacted by second session of Seven- 
tieth Congress relating to irrigation projects. 55, 

78, 191 

Lloyd Dam, Bhatgar, India 46 

Lower Rio Grande Valley, Tex., citrus develop- 
ment in the 77 

Lower Yellowstone man tops stock market 175 

Lower Yellowstone, petrified forest on, by E. E. 
Roddis, district counsel 



121 



Me 



McClellan, L. N., power development on Gov- 
ernment reclamation projects 90 



M 



Marathon Dam, Greece, mosaic marble-faced-, 170 
Mead, Dr. Elwood, community small farms, 
address before National Association of Real 

Estate Boards 98 

Federal reclamation Its achievements and 

needs 162 

The problems and accomplishments of the 

Bureau of Reclamation 34 

The relation of maps and surveys to the 

Boulder Dam project , - _ 84 

Mesilla Valley, prosperity figures for 187 

Mexico, the Don Martin project 100 

Minidoka project, cooperative dairying on 10 

purebred sheep on 46 

Moore, J. S., fruit production and orchard devel- 
opment, Tieton division, Yakima project 42 



N rage 

Newell, R. J., Reclamation and the surplus 83 

New-lands project, electric power development 

on_. - 58 

North Platte project, Government power averts 

sugar-factory shutdown 15 

O 

Olives, growing, on Orland project, California, 
by R. C. E. Weber, superintendent, Orland, 

Calif 120 

Oregon, cost and efficiency in producing alfalfa 

hay in 190 

Orland irrigation project, growing almonds on.. 39 
Orland project, Calif., alfalfa field, J. N. Cook's. 128 
growing olives on, R. C. E. Weber, super- 
intendent 120 

settling land in private ownership on 178 

Owyhee and Vale projects, the settlement prob- 
lem of 152 

Owyhee irrigation project booklet issued by 

bureau.- 7 



Page, J. C., producing Palisade peaches, Grand 

Valley project 188 

Peaches, Palisade, Grand Valley project 188 

Pecan development on Yuma project 62 

Petrified forest on Lower Yellowstone, by E. E. 

Roddis, district counsel 121 

Power development on Government reclamation 

projects 90 

Power, Government, averts sugar-factory shut- 
down 15 

Priest, R. M., paper-shell-pecan development on 

Yuma project 62 

Progress of the West requires Federal reclama- 
tion, by E. E. Roddis, district counsel 118 

Q 

Questionnaire, settlement, used on Don Martin 

project, Mexico 143 

R 

Real Estate Boards, twenty-second annual con- 
vention of National Association of, address by 

Doctor Mead . 98 

Reclamation and the surplus 83 

Reclamation project women and their interests. 8, 

24, 36, 61, 72, 88, 102, 122, 134, 156, 168, 186 

Reclamation work in the United States, status of. 4 
R6sum6 of work in progress during present fiscal 

year and proposed for fiscal year 1930 50 

Rio Grande, compact with respect to use of 

waters of the river above Fort Quitman, Tex. 74 
equitable division of waters of, International 

Water Commission 171 

project, breeding of seed corn 15 

Riparian rights in California 14 



1'age 

Riverton project, Wyoming, regulations con- 
cerning sheep-grazing permits on 117 

Roddis, E. E., district counsel, Billings, Mont., 

petrified forest on Lower Yellowstone 121 

progress of West requires Federal reclama- 
tion 118 

S 

Schnurr, Mae A., reclamation project women 
and their interests 

24, 36, 61, 72, 88, 102, 122, 134, 156, 168, 186 
Settlement problem of the Vale and Owyhee 

projects 152 

Sexton, Harry, citrus development in the Lower 

Rio Grande Valley, Tex 77 

Sheep-grazing permits on Riverton project, 

Wyoming, regulations concerning 117 

Sheep, purebred, on the Minidoka project 46 

Shipments, carload, to and from the projects in 

1928 December cover 

Soil survey, the foundation of successful recla- 
mation development 20 

South America, colonization in 13 

Spain, the exhibit of Bureau of Reclamation at 

Seville 11 

SI at us of Federal reclamation work in the 

United States 4 

Stoutemyer, B. E., irrigation and freight ton- 
nage 31 

Sulphur fertilizer trial 47 

Survey, economic, of certain reclamation pro- 
jects 82 

Swiinton, W. I., list of congressional reports on 

the Colorado River '___ 126 

The Colorado River: Explorations, investi- 
gations, and reports 85 



Tieton division, Yakima project, fruit produc- 
tion, and orchard development 42 

Tule Lake opening, March 18, 1929 38 

Turkey Growers' Association, Nevada 16 

Turkeys in North Platte district 151 

U 

Uncompahgre project, community park and pool 
at Delta.. 174 



Page 
U. S. v. Bridgeport Irrigation District, estoppel 

to question Government's claim 160 

Utah acts on Boulder Dam legislation __!__ 54 

State Engineer makes biennial report 31 



Vale and Owyhee projects, the settlement prob- 
lem of 152 

Van Petten, E. C., a working example of financ- 
ing settlers on irrigation projects 71 

W 

Walker, A. W., electric power development on 

Newlands project 58 

Walter, R. F., re'sume of work in progress during 
present fiscal year and proposed for fiscal vear 

1930 . . .... 50 

Washington, running the farm by electricity in. 12 
Weber, R. C. E., growing almonds on the Orland 

project 39 

growing olives on the Orland project, 

California , 120 

settling land in private ownership on the 

Orland project 178 

Weed control in irrigation canals, New South 

Wales, Australia 137 

Weiss, Andrew, the Don Martin project, Mexico. 100 
Wilbur, Ray Lyman, Christmas greetings from_ 177 

sketch of life of April cover 

Secretary, visits projects 113 

Wilson, T. M., weed control in irrigation canals, 

New South Wales, Australia 137 

Wright, C. C., making profitable use of aban- 
doned land. _ 105 



Yakima project, laud clearing in the upper 

Kittitas district 87 

Tieton division, fruit production and 

orchard development 42 

Youngblutt, F. C., dairy show on the Belle 

Fourche project 44 

Yuma project, cost of growing cotton on 175 

offers opportunity to expand dairy industry . 1 67 

paper-shell-pecan development on 62 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. ISJ9 



RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



JANUARY, 1929 



NO. 1 




THE DESERT RECLAIMED 

PHOTOGRAPH OF A PORTION OF A PAINTING BY FRANK J. McKENZIE, REPRESENTING BROADLY THE SALT RIVER PROJECT. ARIZONA, 
FOR EXHIBITION AT THE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION IN SEVILLE, SPAIN, 1929. SEE PAGE 11. 



RECLAMA TION 
as 

FOR many years the Federal Government has been com- 
mitted to the wise policy of reclamation and irrigation. 
While it has met with some failures due to unwise selection 
of projects and lack of thorough soil surveys, so that they could 
not be placed on a sound business basis, on the whole the service 
has been of such incalculable benefit in so many States that no 
one Would advocate its abandonment. The program to which 
We are already committed, providing for the construction of 
new projects authorized by Congress and the completion of old 
projects, will tax the resources of the reclamation fund over 
a period of years. The high cost of improving and equipping 
farms adds to the difficulty of securing settlers for vacant farms 
on Federal projects. 

Readjustments authorized by the reclamation relief act o} 
May 25, 1926, have given more favorable terms of repayment 
to settlers. These new financial arrangements and the general 
prosperity on irrigation projects have resulted in increased 
collections by the Department of the Interior of charges due the 
reclamation fund. Nevertheless, the demand for still smaller 
yearly payments on some projects continues. These conditions 
should have consideration in connection with any proposed 
new projects. 

From President Coolidgc's message to Congress 
December 4, 1928 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



ROY O. WEST 

Secretary of the Interior 



Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cents a year 



ELWOOD MEAD 
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



January, 1929 



No. 1 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



A COMMITTEE <of water users on the 
Grand Valley project, which has been 
considering the advisability of the water 
users taking over the operation of the proj- 
ect, reported recently that the operation of 
the project toy the Bureau of Reclamation 
was some '$1,300 cheaper than an estimate 
of the cost under association management, 
and accordingly recommended that the 
present policy be continued to the con- 
tract date of January 1, 1932. 



'l^HE Thanksgiving turkey pool on the 
Boise project, amounting to 25 cars 
of 'dressed turkeys, sold at 41 cents. It is 
estimated that the Christmas pool will 
ajmount to 79 cars. 



TPHE Boise project reports that the 
Southwestern Idaho Apple Growers 
Association has strengthened its organi- 
zation and is enlarging its field to include 
potato and onion growers. 



A LFALFA seed and alsike clover seed 
^^ produced last season on the Mini- 
doka project are of exceptional quality 
and find a favorable jaaarket price. A car- 
load of clover and alfalfa seed shipped 
from Rupert to & Minneapolis seed com- 
pany brought the growers approximately 
$10,000. 

A T the State seed show held recently at 
^ Rexburg, Idaho, Miaidoka project 
farmers took a number of prizes. Almost 
a clean sweep was made on Great North- 
ern beans grown near Rupert. South 
Side division farmers won prizes on Feder- 
ation wheat, Netted Gem potatoes, and 
red clover. 



A T the San Francisco Livestock Show 
r^ an Aberdeen Angus steer entered 
by D. E. Alexander, of the Klamath 
project, won the selection as grand cham- 
pion fat steer and was sold on the block 
for $1,850 cash. Thin was the only entry 
from Klamath County. 

26517-28 



A PPROXIMATELY 50,000 pounds of 
"^^ turkeys were shipped from the Milk 
River project for the Thanksgiving trade. 



HE sugar factory on the Belle. Fourche 
project was expected to end the 
season's ran about Christmas. On No- 
vember 26, the average sugar content of 
the beets sliced was 16.45 per cent, with 
a high of 18.1 per cent. 



Salt River Project 
Makes Large Payment 

The Salt River Valley Water Users' 
Association, the organization oj water 
users operating the Salt River Federal 
irrigation project in Arizona, has sent 
to the Bureau of Reclamation its check 
/or $609^63.67 in payment of con- 
struction charges due December 1, 
1928. 

This payment, together with two pre- 
vious payments in July and October, 
brings the total payments Jrom this 
project this year to nearly $1,759,000. 
These payments furnish ample proof 
of the economic success of this out- 
standing Federal reclamation project. 

The Salt River Valley Water Users' 
Association originally owed the Federal 
Government $10,166,000. To date it 
has repaid $5, 86,000, or more than 
half. 



AT Gibson Dam, Sun River project, 

7,500 cubic yards of concrete .were 

placed during the month, leaving only 

23,000 cubic yards to be placed of the 

total of 160,000 cubic yards. 



r THE Tieton Water Users' Association 
* collected $42,981.77 during the 
month of November. For the same 
period in 1927, collections amounted to 
$41,120.50, and in 1926 to $27,668.61. 



new settlers were placed as ten- 
ants, with options to buy, on lands 
in the Zurich district, Chinook division, 
Milk River project. These tenants were 
placed upon property acquired by Wins- 
ton Bros. Co., district bondholders. In 
order to aid in the settlement and devel- 
opment of this district, Winston Bros. Co. 
is assisting to some extent in financing 
worthy settlers. 

A DDITIONAL plantings of paper shell 
pecans are being made on the 
Yuma project and it is anticipated that 
the acreage of this crop will be materially 
increased during the winter and spring 
months. 



T'HE total yield of grapefruit from the 
Yuma Mesa will be in excess of 
25,000 boxes for the season. This yield 
will probably be trebled in 1929. as the 
area of bearing trees will be materially 
increased. 



gHIPMENTS of turkeys from the 
^ Orland project for the Thanksgiving 
trade totaled 35 cars of dressed birds, 
weighing approximately 126 tons. 



FHE orange packing plant on the- 

Orland project has been enlarged to' 

accommodate the olive growers in grading. 

and preparing their product for shipment, 



PAYMENTS totaling $4,822,500 were 
made in November by the Great 
Western Sugar Co. and the Holly. Sugar 
Corporation for sugar beets delivered at 
the dumps on the North Platte project 
prior to November 1. 

A N automobile dealer on the Newlands 
CX project sent a prime Diamond "N" 
Drand, 24-pound Thanksgiving turkey to 
Henry Ford by air mail. The postage 
on the turkey was $55.65. 

1 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



January, 1929 



Colorado River Board Reports on Boulder Dam Project 

The full text of the report is contained in H. R. Doc. No. 446, 70th Congress, 2d Session 



E board of engineers and geologists 
appointed under authority of Joint 
Resolution No. 65, Seventieth Congress, 
approved May 29, 1928, made its report 
to Secretary West the latter part of No- 
vember, and on December 3 the Secretary 
transmitted the report to Congress. The 
resolution provided that the board should 
examine the dam sites in Boulder Canyon 
and Black Canyon on the Colorado River, 
review the plans and estimates, and ad- 
vise as to the safety, economic and en- 
gineering feasibility, and adequacy of the 
proposed structure and incidental works. 
Maj. Gen. William L. Sibert, United States 
Army, retired, is chairman of the board, 
and the other members are D. W. Mead, 
engineer, Robert Ridgeway, engineer, 
Charles P. Berkey, geologist, and W. J. 
Mead, geologist. 

The findings of the report are briefly 
summarized as follows: 

SELECTION OF SITE 

The board examined both sites in ques- 
tion, studied the available data concerning 
them, the geological formations surround- 
ing them, and the seismic history of the 
region. At Boulder Canyon the founda- 
tion rock is granite and associated granitic 
rock of excellent quality. Regular joints 
and more irregular fractures are numerous 
and there is an occasional fault zone. 
Test tunnels prove that these are of little 
consequence to within a few feet from the 
surface. On the whole the rock is strong, 
substantial, durable, and the whole mass 
is essentially tight. There is no danger 
of the rock failing to meet requirements 
as a dam foundation. The rock in the 
vicinity is suitable for construction 
materials, and there are local sources of 
good gravel. If no other site was avail- 
able, the Boulder Canyon site could safely 
be used as far as geological conditions are 
concerned. 

The most favorable site in Black Can- 
yon is about 40 miles distant from Las 
Vegas, Nev., and the Union Pacific Rail- 
road. A construction railroad from Las 
Vegas would pass near available gravel 
deposits and the best quarry sites. The 
foundation is a volcanic breccia or tuff, a 
well-cemented, tough, durable mass of 
rock standing with remarkably steep 
walls, and resisting the attack of weather 
and erosion exceptionally well. The rock 
formation is somewhat jointed and ex- 
hibits occasional fault displacements, 
which are now completely healed. It is 
almost ideal rock for tunneling, is satis- 
factory in every essential, and is suitable 
for use in construction. 



Geologic conditions at Black Canyon 
are superior to those at Boulder Canyon. 
The Black Canyon site is more accessible, 
the canyon is narrower, the gorge is shal- 
lower below water level, the walls are 
steeper, and a dam of the same height 
here would cost less and would have a 
somewhat greater reservoir capacity. 
The rock formation is less jointed, stands 
up in sheer cliffs better, exhibits fewer 
open fractures, is better healed where 
formerly broken, and is less pervious in 
mass than is the rock of the other site. 

There is no douht whatever but that 
the rock formations of this site are com- 
petent to carry safely the heavy load and 
abutment thrusts contemplated. The 
board is of the opinion that the Black 
Canyon site is suitable for the proposed 
dam, and is preferable to Boulder Canyon. 

Danger from earthquakes and deforma- 
tion. The district is recognized as having 
comparative freedom from present-day 
earth movements, and the conclusion is 
that danger from local earthquakes of 
enough violence to threaten a properly 
constructed dam in Black Canyon is 
negligible. 

THE DAM 

It is feasible from an engineering stand- 
point to build a dam at Black Canyon that 
will safely impound water to an elevation 
of 550 feet above low water. A dam of 
the gravity type is suitable for the site in 
question, provided the maximum stresses 
allowed do not exceed those adopted in 
standard practice. The proposed dam 
would be by far the highest yet con- 
structed and would impound 26,000,000 
acre-feet of water. Failure of such a 
structure would cause immense damage 
to the country below, and therefore the 
dam should be constructed on conserva- 
tive, if not ultraconservative, lines. 
It is the judgment of the board, that the 
dam should be designed for maximum 
calculated stresses not exceeding 30 tons 
per square foot. This will add materially 
to the cost of the structure. 

Cofferdams and river diversion. To con- 
trol the flow of the river during construc- 
tion, the proposed plans contemplate the 
diversion of 100,000 second-feet of water 
around the dam site by means of tunnels 
through the canyon walls. The board 
finds that it is not feasible to construct 
the rock-fill cofferdams, excavate to bed- 
rock, prepare the foundation, and place 
concrete for the permanent cofferdams in 
one low-water season of less than nine 
months without undue risk to the men 
working in the excavations and inhabit- 



ants of the valleys below. It is further 
of the opinion that the proposed diversion 
is inadequate and that provision should 
be made for diverting around the dam 
site, through tunnels, at least 200,000 
second-feet. The height of water against 
the upper cofferdam should be limited to 
about 55 feet above low water as a meas- 
ure of safety. 

Permanent spillway. Water in quantity 
should not be permitted to flow over a 
dam of this height. A permanent spill- 
way utilizing the increased capacity of the 
diversion tunnels provided in the revised 
plans will make it practicable to prevent 
any expected flood from overtopping the 
dam. 

Excavation for main dam. It is the 
judgment of the board that it is feasible 
to make the required excavation for the 
permanent dam, but it is their opinion 
that plans and estimates of cost should 
include provision for the control and han- 
dling of a considerable volume of water 
seeping into the excavation. 

POWER PLANT 

While a power house must be fitted to 
a particular site and its equipment must 
be designed and selected for the particular 
conditions existing at that site, the entire 
installation will nevertheless be largely 
standard, and offers no particular difficul- 
ties. The plans proposed are feasible 
from an engineering standpoint. 

ALL-AMERICAN CANAL 

The bill provides for the construction 
of a canal connecting Laguna Dam with 
the Imperial and Coachella Valleys. The 
main canal would be 75 miles long, en- 
tirely within the United States, and for a 
section of 10 miles, would cross a region 
of sand dunes. Although difficulties are 
presented by the drifting sand, the board 
finds it is entirely feasible to construct, 
maintain, and successfully operate the 
canal. The board believes that the canal 
should be lined with concrete through the 
sand-dune region, and should be given a 
slope sufficient to carry the inblown sand 
to a suitable place for deposit and removal. 

ESTIMATES OF COST 

A review of the etimates for the pro- 
posed structures resulted in the board 
reaching the conclusion that these esti- 
mates should be modified as follows: 

Dam and reservoir (26,000,- 

000 acre-feet capacity) _-- $70, 600, 000 

1,000,000-horsepower devel- 
opment 38, 200, 000 



January, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



All-American canal $38, 500, 000 

Interest during construction 

on above 17,700,000 



Total 165,000,000 

In this revision, stresses in 
the dam have been limited 
to a maximum of 30 tons 
per square foot, and a 
diversion capacity of 200,- 
000 second-feet is pro- 
vided. If canal to Coa- 
chella Valley is considered 
a part of the main canal, 
add 11, 000, 000 



Total estimated cost 
for all items in H. 
R. 5773 176,000,000 

These estimates are based on a con- 
struction period of seven years. 

ADEQUACY OF PROPOSED STRUCTURES 

A dam of 550 feet above low water 
across the Colorado River at Black Can- 
yon will be adequate in the board's opin- 
ion so to regulate the flow of the Lower 
Colorado as to control ordinary floods; 
to improve present navigation possibili- 
ties; and to store and deliver the available 
water for reclamation of public lands and 
for other beneficial uses within the United 
States. 

WATER SUPPLY OF THE COLORADO RIVER 

The board estimates the flow at Black 
Canyon, without further depletion, as 
follows: 

Average low flow for a period Acre-feet 

of 15 to 20 years 10, 000, 000 

Average high flow for a sim- 
ilar period 14, 500, 000 

Average of high and low 

periods 12, 250, 000 

It is estimated that the present flow is 
depleted by water taken for irrigation in 
the upper basin by approximately 
2,750,000 acre-feet, which amount, if 
added to the above estimated average 
flow, would increase it to about 15,000,000 
acre-feet. This is the amount appor- 
tioned by the seven States compact for 
division at Lees Ferry. 

MINERAL SALTS IN THE RESERVOIR 

The waters of the Colorado are nor- 
mally high in dissolved mineral salts, but 
the amount is well within the limits of 
accepted practice for irrigation purposes. 
The waters impounded in the Black Can- 
yon reservoir would overflow, to a limited 
extent, lands in the Virgin Valley that 
contain beds of soluble salts. It is the 
opinion of the board that the actual salt 
content will not be increased to an inju- 
rious amount, even in the beginning, and 
that, in a comparatively short time, the 



incoming silt will be so effective in blan- 
keting the salt deposits that the salt con- 
tent of the river waters will be reduced to 
about the present amount. 

SILTING OF THE RESERVOIR 

The best determinations available indi- 
cate that silt deposition in the proposed 
reservoir would be at the rate of approxi- 
mately 137,000 acre-feet per year. At 
the end of the first 50-year period there 
would still be available approximately 
three-fourths of the effective reserve 
capacity for irrigation and power and a 
slightly larger proportion of the flood 
reserve capacity. It would take about 
190 years to fill the reservoir with silt 
providing there is no additional upstream 
reservoir development resulting in reduc- 
tion of the rate of silt delivery. 

RIVER SILT BELOW THE DAM 

With the continuous regulation of 
river flow afforded by the proposed reser- 
voir and the virtual elimination of high 
flood waters a tendency to silt stabiliza" 
tion will follow. Ultimately the silt 
content will be virtually eliminated. 
The board believes that marked improve- 
ment will be shown within the first 10 
years, especially in reduction of the 
amount of extremely fine suspended silt, 
which at present causes most damage to 
irrigated lands. Thereafter improvement 
will be gradual, though erratic, on ac- 
count of occasional floods. 

POWER 

It is believed that under present con- 
ditions of irrigation a continuous output 
of 550,000 horsepower, or 1,000,000 
horsepower on a 55 per cent load factor, 
could be maintained even during the 
years of normal low flow. As the use of 
water for irrigation increases, the amount 
of water available for power will decrease 
and a time will arrive when, during peri- 
ods of low water, the full estimated 
amount of power can not be maintained. 
Within a 30 or 40 year period, even with 
a reregulating reservoir, the power out- 
put may be reduced to five-tenths or 
six-tenths of the capacity of the proposed 
plant during a long dry period. 

The whole matter is further compli- 
cated by the proposed seven States com- 
pact. It is quite probable that the com- 
pact attempts to apportion more water 
than the actual average undepleted flow 
of the river. The situation is still further 
complicated by the fact that the upper 
States are authorized to take more than 
an equitable proportion of the flow of the 
river, for any one or more of a series of 
dry years, provided they permit a total 



of 75,000,000 acre-feet to flow down the 
river in a period of 10 consecutive years. 
In any event, the upper basin has, by 
virtue of its location, first call on the 
water of the river. The withdrawal of 
the allotted share of the annual flow 
during any series of years of low flow 
may make it impossible to carry out 
the terms of the compact during the latter 
part of a low 10-year period. If the low 
flow continued for a considerable term 
of years, the proposed storage at Black 
Canyon would be inadequate to provide 
sufficient water for the lower basin through 
such a period. The power output would 
also be seriously affected and might be 
reduced below the estimated minimum 
previously stated. With the uncertain- 
ties of the flow at the Boulder Dam it is 
impossible to estimate closely the average 
annual putput of power which would ob- 
tain during a 50-year period. 

ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY 

In considering the economics of this 
project, the board recognizes the im- 
portance, among others, of the following 
factors : 

1. It is of much economic importance 
that an agreement limiting the amount of 
water assignable to Mexico should be 
made prior to the completion of the 
Boulder Dam project. 

2. The board believes that the growing 
demand for power in Southern California, 
when considered on a conservative basis, 
will be sufficient to absorb the probable 
power output of the proposed hydroelec- 
tric plant. 

3. If the Boulder Dam project is 
completed and put in operation, carrying 
as it does the costs of flood protection 
works and the All-American canal, it 
will be impossible to meet operation, 
maintenance, interest, and a sufficient 
sinking fund to retire the cost of the proj- 
ect within a 50-year period. 

4. If the income from storage can be 
reasonably increased and the capital 
investment reduced by the cost of the 
All-American canal, together with a 
reduction for all or a part of the cost 
properly chargeable to flood protection, 
it would be possible to amortize the re- 
maining cost with the income from power. 



A N indication of the increase in pros- 
^^ perity of the Rio Grande project is 
shown by the number of new schools 
being constructed. During the past year 
four new grade schools were constructed 
at various points in the Mesilla Valley, 
two union high schools at Hatch and 
Anthony, and enlargements made to 
school buildings at Hill and San Miguel. 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



January, 1929 



Status of Federal Reclamation Wor\ in the United States 

Address before the American Railway Development Association, Chicago, III., December 7, 1928 
By George C. Kreutzer, Director o] Reclamation Economics, Bureau of Reclamation 



TOURING the last year or two, and more 
pronouncedly during the last few 
months, a one-sided discussion has taken 
place on reclamation as carried on by the 
Federal Government. Some of the most 
influential agricultural, civic, and profes- 
sional organizations seem to have reached 
the conclusion that Federal reclamation 
should cease until there is a need for more 
agricultural products of the kinds now 
being produced in abundance. Broadly 
this conclusion is based on the belief that 
money spent in reclamation is taken from 
the General Treasury and that farmers 
thereby contribute to the creation of 
more agricultural products to compete 
with those grown by themselves. It 
therefore involves first the origin and 
support of the reclamation fund; second, 
the completion of products produced on 
reclamation projects with those sent to 
market by farmers in general, and third, 
a lack of appreciation of what these 
enterprises have contributed to the 
establishment of near-by cities and towns, 
of profitable lumbering and mining 
industries, and to the enlargement of 
successful livestock operations, all of 
which have created larger markets for 
both manufactured goods and agricul- 
tural products produced elsewhere. 

THE RECLAMATION FUND 

The reclamation fund is not collected 
as general Federal taxes. It is made up 
of a combination of revenues from a 
portion of the receipts from sales of public 
land within the 16 Western States, from 
bonuses, royalties, and rentals from 
petroleum and other minerals, and from 
the repayments by water users. It is 
significant in this connection that the 
main source of revenue for construction 
now comes from settlers' payments on 
older projects. During the past few 
years the average gross annual revenue 
flowing into this fund has averaged about 
$8,500,000. 

THE RECLAMATION ACT 

The Federal reclamation act was advo- 
cated and approved by President Roose- 
velt. It became a law June 17, 1902. It 
was a part of his farsighted program of 
conservation. It was his belief that, in- 
stead of depleting natural resources in the 
West, there should be established irriga- 
tion projects of lasting benefit and use 
of the local communities and the Nation. 



This was especially logical if these projects 
were financed by money derived from the 
sale or rental of natural resources within 
the several Western States. The West 
would then be financing its own develop- 
ment. This is precisely what the recla- 
mation act and amendments thereto pro- 
vide. The policy of Federal river and 
harbor improvement had previously been 
adopted as a national program. 

President Roosevelt's message 'to Con- 
gress in 1901 stated in advocacy of the 
reclamation measure: "The storing of 
flood waters of our rivers is but an en- 
largement of our present policy of river 
control under which levees are built on 
the lower reaches of the same stream." 
However, reclamation differs in two fun- 
damental features from river and harbor 
control work, first in the source of the 
fund which comes from the West and sec- 
ond the amounts expended must be repaid 
directly by those who use water. 

Subsequent to the approval of this act, 
the conservation of timber through the 
creation of forest reserves became a 
national policy. This removed large areas 
of public land from ever being taxed by 
the States. Additional large areas were 
included in national parks and Indian 
reservations. It was only natural that a 
portion of the revenues from the remaining 
public domain should be set aside to create 
in the West an enlargement of irrigation 
in a country where water must be supplied 
by artificial means to grow crops and main- 
tain a profitable agriculture. 

EXTENT OF RECLAMATION 

Since reclamation has been a policy of 
the Government 24 projects have been 
constructed and 4 are under construction 
at present. The 24 constructed projects 
located in 15 Western States include 
1,956,910 irrigable acres, to which a full 
water supply is furnished. In addition, 
the Government furnishes supplemental 
water to 1,482,950 acres which are in- 
cluded in private enterprises which had 
an insufficient water supply. The proj- 
ects are subdivided into 38,428 farms 
with a resident population of 143,227. 
The population of the 207 cities and towns 
included in these projects is 429,683. 
The projects and towns are served by 685 
schools, 683 churches, and 135 local banks. 

Previously reclamation was carried out 
exclusively by private capital, which 
naturally selected the less expensive and 
least difficult engineering tasks. Along 



western streams the early pioneers could 
construct a brush or loose rock dam and 
build with their own labor, teams, and 
scrapers a ditch to divert water to their 
meadow or bottom lands. Mutual com- 
panies or districts took the next step to 
construct irrigation works for a group of 
neighbors where it required a pool of their 
resources to bring the common benefit of 
water to the community. The large and 
difficult undertakings were left because of 
the large amount of money required to 
provide the works. These were the tasks 
undertaken by the Government which 
could finance them out of the reclamation 
fund. It was an independent agency 
that could assist in getting water rights 
adjudicated on State and interstate 
streams and provide supplemental water 
to many near-by enterprises at reasonable 
rates. This accounts for the large area 
previously mentioned as receiving part of 
its water from Government works. 

ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS 

The insistent demand by organizations 
previously mentioned to stop reclamation 
is brought forth as a measure of farm 
relief. In advocating such a course the 
fact is lost sight of that the agriculture on 
these Federal projects does not depress 
general agricultural market conditions. 
These enterprises make more of a market 
than they fill. An analysis of almost any 
typical reclamation project will conclu- 
sively show this to be true. The Salt 
River project in Arizona contributes a 
cheap food supply to Phoenix and a half 
dozen other towns on the project. Cheap 
power and local food make the operations 
of the Inspiration Copper Co. possible. 
This project with its production of 
power and green foods has stimulated 
other mining industries in Arizona. The 
people on the project and in the towns 
consume large amounts of agricultural 
products grown elsewhere and buy great 
quantities of manufactured goods. In 
1922 Senator Ashurst prepared a state- 
ment for the Congressional Record on the 
carload shipments from other States to 
the Salt River project. These totaled 
7,935 loaded freight cars of goods, wares, 
and merchandise which were shipped 
from 43 different States. The shipment 
from the Corn Belt States totaled 2,037 
cars of various kinds of merchandise. 
The people who made these goods con- 
sumed farm products which were grown 
mainly outside of the irrigated areas. 



January, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



Mr. B. E. Stoutemyer, district counsel 
of the Bureau of Reclamation at Port- 
land, stated in an address before the 
Oregon Irrigation Congress recently with 
reference to the Minidoka project, Idaho, 
as follows: 

This project was located in a section 
where there was no settlement, no towns, 
and no irrigation until the Government 
project was built. This is also a typical 
and representative project in the class of 
farm products grown. 

In 1927 the project included 2,390 
farms. On these farms there were 7,091 
residents and there were 7,950 residents 
in the project towns. It is evident that 
each of the 2,390 farm units supported 
two families, one family on the farm and 
one family in the towns on the project. 

In addition to these two families sup- 
ported on the project by each farm unit, 
it is also certain that the purchases of 
the two families keep a third family em- 
ployed in the industrial and commercial 
centers of the East, Middle West, and 
Pacific coast, so that each farm unit sup- 
ports three families one on the farm, one 
in the project towns, and one in the com- 
mercial and industrial centers. Of these 
three families all are consumers of farm 
products, but only one is producing farm 
products. 

The farm population for all projects is 
143,227 and there are 429,683 persons in 
project towns. This is a ratio of one to 
three. 

He might have added also concerning 
Minidoka that out of this sagebrush 
desert a total wealth has been created for 
farms, improvements, equipment, and 
livestock estimated at $23,000,000. This 
does not include the value of town prop- 
erty, factories, railroads, highways, or 
public improvements. In 1921, the latest 
year for which data are available, the 
value of manufactured goods shipped to 
the project amounted to $3,430,000. 

One of the Government's successful 
projects is in the Yakima Valley, Wash., 
and last year the Yakima Chamber of 
Commerce estimated that eastern firms 
took about $30,000,000 from the valley in 
return for goods and merchandise of all 
descriptions purchased by the residents of 
Yakima, Benton, and Kittitas Counties. 
This included everything from breakfast 
food to automobiles. 

Mr. Stoutemyer stated further with 
reference to the character of the products 
produced on the Minidoka project: 

On this project, as well as on nearly 
all of our reclamation projects, the crop 
most extensively grown is alfalfa hay. It 
also grows a limited amount of wheat 
which is one of the farm crops of which 
we have a surplus for export. But the 
acreage of alfalfa and clover is about three 
times as much as the acreage in wheat. 
The total acreage devoted to alfalfa and 
clover is 45,454 acres. Of this 41,259 
acres are cropped for hay and 4,195 are 
harvested for seed. Both alfalfa seed and 
clover seed are products which we import 
to a considerable extent. 



Alfalfa and clover hay is used exten- 
sively in the keeping of livestock on farms 
and for winter feeding operations. The 
need for more alfalfa hay adjacent to the 
western ranges is urgent due to the 
changed conditions in the livestock in- 
dustry. When cows were worth $15 a 
head and ewes $2 a head, it was not im- 
portant if part of the herd was lost during 
a severe winter. Now cows are selling 
for $75 a head and ewes at about $10. 
They are so valuable as to make the loss 
of part of the herd on the range serious. 
As a result, stockmen, who are not near 
a cheap supply of hay are carrying only 
about half the number that could be car- 
ried with a near-by supplemental feed 
supply. The shortage of feeder cattle 
and the high price of beef has caused 
appeals to be made to lower the tariff on 
feeder cattle from Canada and Mexico. 
Reclamation should be extended wherever 
winter feed shortages are serious to make 
the highest use of our ranges and provide 
feeders for finishing in the Corn Belt. 

The sheep industry is essentially a 
western industry and is dependent for its 
expansion on more alfalfa or other hay 
near the ranges. For a number of years 
the average family has been unable to buy 
lamb because of its high price. This high 
. cost is not created by finishing lambs for 
market but by the high cost of feeders. 
Feeder lambs have been selling from 11 to 
13 cents per pound at shipping time. 
Along with an increase in sheep would 
come an increase in wool production. In 
1927, 328,000,000 pounds of wool were 
produced in the United States and we 
imported 264,000,000 pounds from foreign 
countries. 

On northern projects in 1927, 61,963 
acres of sugar beets were grown, producing 



744,000 tons of beets, valued at about 
$6,000,000. In the same year the United 
States imported 4,126,000 tons of sugar, 
but produced only 1,164,000 tons. The 
sugar-beet industry affords employment 
for a vast number of people beginning 
with the hand labor to grow the crop and 
ending with the operation of the refineries. 
They are all users of food and fiber pro- 
duced in this country. This industry is 
on the increase. and ought to be encour- 
aged. The development agents of west- 
ern railroads have some interesting figures 
on what an acre of sugar beets means in 
revenue to their lines, which shows the 
economic importance of this crop in sup- 
porting modern transportation. 

We contend that if thoughtful consider- 
ation is given to the character of products 
coming from these projects and the loca- 
tion of the projects themselves, with 
reference to other industries, no one would 
object to a modest program of reclamation. 

THE 10-YEAR PROGRAM 

This is what former Secretary of the 
Interior Work had in mind when he 
adopted a 10-year program of construc- 
tion. This was based mainly on improv- 
ing conditions on existing projects and 
adopting new ones which involved par- 
tially irrigated land with an inadequate 
water supply or water provided by 
private development at such high rates 
as to tax settlers off their farms. In this 
latter class are the Owyhee and Vale 
projects in Oregon, the Minidoka gravity 
extension in Idaho, Echo Reservoir in 
Utah, and the Kittitas in Washington. 

Improving conditions on constructed 
projects included drainage to relieve 
settlers of seepage, constructing addi- 
tional dams or other improvements to 




Irrigated sugar beets on the Minidoka project, Idaho 



6 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



January, 1929 



facilitate irrigation and complete other 
unfinished work. Tliis tentative program 
should be completed in 1937. 

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 

In completing the projects already be- 
gun and in carrying on reclamation in the 
future, we must recognize that to make 
reclamation socially and economically 
successful, is not a simple undertaking. 
Great changes have taken place in agri- 
culture during the past 25 years. Re- 
clamation must be adjusted to the changes. 

Reclamation consists of two separate 
and distinct operations. One is the build- 
ing of the works to provide water. The 
other is the preparation of the land and 
the improvement of the farms so that the 
water can be used. The works are well 
built and there is no question concerning 
the ability to deliver water to farms to 
meet the needs of farmers and do it 
efficiently and economically. 

Thus far the second phase has never 
been regarded as a part of Federal rec- 
lamation. It was left entirely to the 
unaided efforts of the settlers. There is a 
difference of opinion whether that is the 
proper solution. Many still believe that 
if the land is good and the water supply 
ample the farms will be settled and 
somehow a profitable agriculture will be 
created. In cooperation with the develop- 
ment departments of several transcon- 
tinental railroads we have tried to secure 
settlers for unoccupied land under the 
canals. Where the farms were partially 
improved, with a livable house and suit- 
able outbuildings, and partly prepared for 
irrigation, we were able to get settlers. 
On the unimproved land the results were 
negative. Settlers came, looked over 
the farms, and moved on. They did not 



the money to build houses and farm 
buildings, fence, and level land and have 
enough left to live until a crop was grown. 
These were good tenants with limited 
means. Few people realize the cost, 
work, and sacrifice involved in changing 
raw sagebrush land into a well-improved 
and profitable farm. Experienced tenants 
or the sons of irrigation farmers know 
what this entails and will not rent or buy 
raw land. 

This is the unfilled gap between the 
completed canal and paying farms. 
There is no agency now which partially 
improves farms before settlement or fur- 
nishes money on satisfactory terms to 
assist the settler in completing the im- 
provement and equipment of farms. 
Funds can be secured in many localities 
on satisfactory terms to buy livestock, 
but no agency furnishes it to erect houses, 
farm buildings, or to provide fences and 
leveling. Federal land banks can only 
loan on improved farms producing definite 
and certain incomes. Local banks can 
loan money for 90 days and sometimes for 
six months, but this is far too short a 
period. Besides the annual interest rate 
in these new regions is usually 10 per cent 
or more. 

Railroad officials and representatives of 
the Bureau of Reclamation have urged 
local communities to organize financing 
corporations. These communities are 
long distances from the money centers 
and have not the money available locally 
or means of securing the money for devel- 
opment purposes. The States have been 
approached, but some are prevented from 
furnishing this aid by constitutional 
inhibitions. Others have not the means. 
In other countries this necessary credit 
and aid is provided by the same agency 



J--TBI !?** . f mi 
jfeis^aj^.^-.- - - ^if^r- 4. Jf 

^JSPi-ft.^-- . - - ' 




Harvesting almonds on the Orland project, California 



that builds the works. This plan has 
been tried long enough to remove this 
phase of reclamation from the realm of 
experimentation. At present some 30 
countries give aid in settlement. Ad- 
vances range from $2,000 to $3,000 and 
the interest rates vary from 3J^ to 6 per 
cent, repayments being allowed over a 
long period of years. 

A bill now before Congress is intended 
to furnish a laboratory test of this help in 
settlement and farm development. It 
authorizes that $500,000 be taken from 
the reclamation fund for this purpose. 
Not more than $100,000 would be needed 
the first year. This measure would limit 
advances to not more than $3,000. The 
settler would have to match the money 
provided and a mortgage would be taken 
on land and improvements for the amount 
advanced. It would restrict loans to the 
erection of houses and outbuildings and 
to the preparation of land for irrigation. 
The money would be returned in a shorter 
period by requiring the settler, as soon as 
the farm was developed and income 
assured to secure a loan from the Federal 
land bank. 

Wisely directed credit for this purpose 
would complete the settlement of proj- 
ects and assure an agriculture which 
would return the cost of irrigation works 
in accordance with reclamation law. 
I hope those of you who are interested in 
western reclamation will secure copies of 
H. R. 9956 and S. 2829 and make a study 
of their provisions. 

What has been stated regarding Federal 
projects is equally true concerning private 
irrigation and drainage districts. The 
default in the payment of interest and 
principal on bonds is largely due to a 
lack of settlement and farm development 
on these enterprises. Bondholders are 
confronted with the problem of writing 
off part of the debt or contributing addi- 
tional funds to create project earning 
power. Up to the present, except in a 
few instances, writing off part of the debt 
has been resorted to. 

INVESTIGATIONS IN THE SOUTHERN 
STATES 

Investigations made in seven of the 
Southern States show that raw farm land, 
even though drained, falls far short of the 
full purposes of reclamation. Draining 
water from swamps without removing 
timber and stumps leaves the new settler 
with tremendous obstacles to be over- 
come. To successfully establish farming 
communities requires that areas be de- 
veloped large enough to give them an 
agriculture independent of that of the 
surrounding country. Homes should be 
provided for at least 200 settlers working 
together in one community to solve their 



January, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



common economic and social problems. 
Drainage, roads, schools and other com- 
munity improvements must be provided 
as part of the development. Where land 
requires clearing, a portion should be 
cleared on each farm and prepared for 
cropping before the settler acquires the 
land. An agricultural credit fund should 
be provided from which advances can be 
made to supplement settlers' capital in 
improving farms. This would leave a 
large part of the settler's capital to be 
used for the purchase of farm implements, 
tools and machinery, work stock, meat 
and milk animals, seeds and fertilizers, 
and for meeting living expenses while the 
first crops are being grown. A develop- 
ment and crop program should be thought 
out in advance of settlement. Repay- 
ment for farms and advances should be 
permitted over a long period with a low 
rate of interest. 

In the southern section of our country 
the main crops are cotton and tobacco, 
largely produced by tenants. The wealth 
they produce goes largely to those who 
handle and process the raw material. 
They do not produce the foodstuffs re- 
quired in their States for man and beast. 
In 1920 the amount of cash sent out of 
the seven Southern States under investi- 
gation for bread, meat, grain, hay and 
forage, and other foods and feeds was 
$1,408,851,000. For the 12 Southern 
States the food and feed deficit was 
about $2,500,000,000 per year. 

The South needs distinctly fewer ten- 
ants and more farmers who cultivate the 
land they own, and a change in its agri- 
culture. This can best be accomplished 
by demonstration planned settlements 
utilizing the best experience in reclama- 
tion and the science of farming. Doing 
this need not add to the surplus of a 
single crop now produced in abundance. 
It should lessen crop surpluses wherever 
practiced. Doctor Branson, of North 
Carolina, states it is manifestly wise for 
a farmer to produce his own hog and hom- 
iny, hay and forage. 

Although the West and South differ 
widely in soil, topography, and climatic 
conditions, and the methods of reclama- 
tion would show wide variations, the 
human problems of settlement and eco- 
nomic development are essentially alike. 
There is no question of the adequacy of 
the irrigation works constructed by the 
Federal Government in the West, nor of 
the reclamation work contemplated in 
the South. In each, however, more and 
more attention must be given to the solu- 
tion of the problem of the settler of small 
means during the early years of develop- 
ing his farm. 

The value of Federal reclamation not 
only to the West, but to the Nation as 
a whole, was forcibly brought out by 



Owyhee Irrigation Project Booklet 
Issued by Bureau 



A N illustrated booklet has been issued 
"^^ recently by the Bureau of Reclama- 
tion, giving information for prospective 
settlers concerning the Owyhee irrigation 
project in eastern Oregon and western 
Idaho. The project is discussed under the 
headings of "Location," "Irrigation Plan 
and Cost," "Payment for Water Rights," 
"Present Development," "New Land 
Appraised," "Need for Settlers When 
Water is Available," "Soil and Climate," 
"Crops," "Livestock and Poultry," "Crop 
Utilization and Markets," "Towns," 
"Railroads and Highways," "Recrea- 
tion," and "Cost of Materials and 
Equipment." 

The bureau points out in the opening 
paragraph that it can not be definitely 
stated when water will be available for 
irrigation, as this will depend on the prog- 
ress made in construction and upon the 
amount of appropriations made by Con- 
gress from year to year. Accordingly the 
bureau does not recommend that settlers 
purchase privately owned land and at- 
tempt to farm it before water is available, 
as the precipitation in this section is too 
low to permit profitable farming without 
irrigation. Public land under the pro- 
posed works has been withdrawn from 
entry and will not be restored until water 
is available. Following out the general 
policy of the department to prevent land 
speculation each 40-acre tract has been 
classified and valued by an independent 
board of appraisals without reference to 
the proposed irrigation development. The 
values for undeveloped land vary from $1 
to $15 per acre, depending on the depth 
and character of the soil and the smooth- 
ness or unevenness of the land which 
affect the cost of preparing it for irrigation. 
The contract between the Owyhee irri- 
gation district and the United States pro- 
vides that all land excepting that in the 
pumping districts and under the Owyhee 
Canal, held in a single ownership in 
excess of 160 acres, shall be sold to settlers 



President Coolidge in his message to 
Congress on December 4, in which he 
said: 

For many years the Federal Govern- 
ment has been committed to the wise 
policy of reclamation and irrigation. 
While it has met with some failures due 
to unwise selection of projects and lack 
of thorough soil surveys, so that they 
could not be placed on a sound business 
basis, on the whole the service has been 
of such incalculable benefit in so many 
States that no one would advocate its 
abandonment. 



at not more than the appraised value. 
Under the reclamation law water can not 
be furnished to land in a single ownership 
in excess of 160 acres. Lands held in 
ownerships of less than 160 acres have also 
been appraised and may be sold for more 
than the appraised value upon the condi- 
tion that 50 per cent of the selling price in 
excess of the appraised value shall be 
turned over in cash to the irrigation dis- 
trict to be applied as a credit to the 
water right on that particular piece of 
land. 

The Owyhee project provides for the 
irrigation of lands in Oregon and Idaho 
along the southern and western sides of 
Snake River Valley. Of the 125,000 irri- 
gable acres in the project about 70,000 
acres arein the ir natural state covered 
with black sagebrush. About 40,000 
acres are under privately managed irriga- 
tion districts which derive their water 
supply from the Snake River by means of 
pumping. Of this area about 30,000 acres 
are in cultivation. About 12,000 acres 
are irrigated by gravity from the old 
Owyhee Canal, also under private man- 
agement. 

A contract has been entered into for the 
construction of the Owyhee Dam and 
work is now in progress on the construc- 
tion of a railroad to the dam site. This 
dam, when completed, will be 405 feet 
high, towering 56 feet above the 349-foot 
Arrowrock Dam, which is the highest 
completed dam in the United States, also 
constructed by the Bureau of Reclama- 
tion on the Boise project, Idaho, and top- 
ping by 43 feet the 362-foot Schraeh in 
Switzerland, the world record holder at 
present. The dam is designed as a con- 
crete arch with a crest length of 840 feet, 
a volume of 542,755 cubic yards, and will 
store 715,000 acre-feet of water. 

It is stated by the department that the 
completion of the project will afford 
opportunity for 1,000 to 1,200 settlers in 
addition to those now farming in the 
pumping districts and under the Owyhee 
Canal. Although undeveloped land on 
the project should not be purchased until 
the works are completed, settlers who 
desire to become familiar with the climate 
and farming conditions in anticipation of 
entering or purchasing irrigated farms 
when water is available should have little 
difficulty in securing places to rent on 
some of the lands now under irrigation 
either on this project or on the Boise 
Federal irrigation across the river in 
Idaho. 



8 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



January, 1929 




m^iffiifffim Mtfjgjfe Wfjiiiift 




OHP 



By Mae A. Schnurr 
Secretary to the Commissioner 




New Year Suggestions 

ANOTHER year to plan and take 
" advantage of the experience of the 
past year. 

Some of us have, in good faith, set up 
a budget, only to have it topple before 
our very eyes by the ravages of unexpected 
expenses. This is particularly true of a 
family budget. Sometimes it is set up 
too "tight." 

A great deal of worry over what seem 
to be "unexpected" household expenses 
could be forestalled if some recognition 
were made of them in the annual budget. 
Sickness, new clothing needed, replace- 
ments of furnishings, repairs to the car, 
entertaining, and obligatory gifts are 
among the commonest of the supposedly 
unpredictable expenses that often upset 
the budget. 

The exact cost of medical care will, 
of course, be unknown, but if an average 
of several years back be taken, a tentative 
monthly allowance can be assigned for 
"health." If this is left to accumulate 



when unused, the visits of the doctor need 
not cause financial consternation. 

A definite sum, not to be exceeded, can 
be allowed each one in the family for 
clothing. This will be as generous or 
as small as previous experience has indi- 
cated to be necessary. The purchase 
of the more expensive articles like coats 
and suits can be planned for the months 
that are otherwise least heavily burdened. 
Similarly, the cost of running a car for a 
year can be estimated and distributed. 
Limited allowances for gifts, vacations, 
and entertaining can be made, provided 
the members of the family cooperate in 
adhering to them. 

The following set-up is suggested as a 
nucleus, to which can be added particular 
classes peculiar to your needs: 

Use a large double sheet of paper, 
dividing it into 13 vertical columns, one 
for listing the 10 usual groups of expendi- 
ture food, housing, operating, furnish- 
ing and equipment, clothing, health, de- 
velopment, personal, automobile, and sav- 
ings and one for each month of the year 




Irrigated pumpkins, North Platte project, Nebraska-Wyoming 



in which to enter estimates of expendi- 
tures in each one of these groups. 

Certain fixed expenses, like payments 
on a house, insurance premiums, tele- 
phone bills, and many others occur regu- 
larly in all months or certain months. 
Set them down in the proper columns. 
Divide your annual allowances for other 
expenditures in the same way, estimating 
them as best you can by what that depart- 
ment of living cost you last year if you 
kept a record. This annual spending 
plan, when completely filled in, will have 
to be adjusted to the monthly income. 
Very often the first plan exceeds the actual 
income and has to be pruned down until 
your estimate fits what you will have to 
spend. If you have never kept household 
accounts, you will have to guess to some 
extent. Often after careful spending 
records have been kept for a month, you 
can make a plan for the coming year. 
January first is a good time to make a 
beginning. 

Congratulations, Orland 
Project Women 

At the orange and olive exposition, 
held recently at Oroville, Calif., first 
prizes were awarded Orland oranges and 
olives, and the exhibit as a whole received 
two ribbons. The exhibit from the proj- 
ect was made possible through the co- 
operation of the water users' association, 
the chamber of commerce, and the Or- 
land orange growers. 

A striking feature of the exposition, 
which, according to an article in the San 
Francisco Examiner, drew the attention 
of every observer, was the little home 
canneries, developments of domestic skill 
in the preserving, candying and processing 
of fruits and vegetables. Commenting 
on these, Ernest Hopkins says: 

"Some of these little home canning 
factories put up the very best and classi- 
est products of the sort that can be found. 
Their output is small and choice; their 
history is almost invariably the same. 
Some Sacramento Valley housewife will 
have started putting up this or that 
exceptional product of her husband's 
farm, at first as a labor of love. Presently 
a farm center or improvement club will 



January, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION EEA 



9 






and Associate Editor 
New Reclamation Era 





have staged one of these delightful little 
fairs that are always occurring throughout 
the valley, and the housewife's candied 
jujubes or glac6 pears will have at- 
tracted attention and won a blue ribbon." 

It's an easy step from the labor of love 
to the extra cash of a commercial venture. 
An exceptional crop of tomatoes or cling 
peaches commanded too low a price from 
the canneries because they were, sur- 
prising as it may seem, too large to can. 
To keep the crop from being a total loss 
a little canning shed and necessary equip- 
ment are added to the farm assets and 
the housewife's skill becomes of com- 
mercial value. Most of these products of 
her skill and energy find a ready market 
near home. 

The exposition boasted an astonishing 
number of these farm-canned products. 
From one housewife came an unusual dis- 
play of candied apples, figs with great 
walnuts inside, tomatoes and beans in 
glass jars, and other specialties of her own 
devising. On other tables were dried 
figs, apples, and peaches that were the 
last word in appetizing appearance; figs 
in Christmas boxes, glac6 fruits, prize 
persimmons, and big pomegranates. 
Another table showed a prize-winning 
display of preserved quinces, glac6d apri- 
cots, and candied jujubes. Not the least 
was the gogutza, a striped and speckled 
giant Sicilian gourd containing an edible 
fiber without taste or flavor, but which, 
when cooked in concentrated fruit juice, 
becomes transformed into anything 
you want. Witness the metamorphosis 
wrought by one exhibitor who is making 
perfectly good maraschino cherries out 
of this humble product, glac<5 peaches and 
lemons, and other fruit-flavored dainties. 

Everyone voted the exposition a great 
success, and the Orland project was proud 
to have had such a prominent place in it. 



Of Interest to Project 
Mothers 

In the case of growing boys and girls 
it is felt that there must be a definite 
allowance for protein and minerals in the 



diet as well as for energy. Otherwise it 
might be possible for a diet to furnish 
sufficient energy but not enough body- 
building material. At certain ages boys 
and girls may need from one to one and a 
half times as much protein and mineral 
material as a man. 

There is nothing astonishing in the 
phenomenon of the always hungry boy or 
girl between 9 and 18 years of age. This 
normal hunger, especially evident in the 
active boy between 14 and 18, needs to 
be appeased with foods which supply 
protein and minerals as well as energy, 
BO the mother who provides plenty of 
milk, eggs, fresh vegetables, and fruits in 
the daily meals is wisely supplementing 
the bread and butter, cereals, potatoes, 
cookies, or other energy foods. 



Village Planning Big Factor 
In Community Life 

City planning as practiced in metro- 
politan centers has its counterpart in the 
development of villages that serve as 
social and trade centers for farming 
communities. The automobile affords 
the farmer a wider range of choice in 
selecting his recreation and in selling his 
products and buying supplies. Some of 



the elements of good physical make-up 
of towns and villages are convenient and 
pleasing exits and entrances, broad tree- 
lined streets, a common or village green 
as a civic center, park and playground 
space, sanitation, good architecture in 
private dwellings, as well as in public 
buildings, which should be conveniently 
located, and all set back from the streets 
and surrounded with ample lawns and 
clean and attractive borders. Villages 
that do not minister to the needs of the 
farming communities are likely to com- 
plain of the drift to the cities and of 
ruinous competition. Villages that are 
attractive, as well as serviceable, also 
profit from the ever-increasing army of 
summer tourists. 

Preventive planning, which forsees and 
prevents expensive mistakes in building, 
is recommended to village communities. 
As in the cities, rebuilding after a bad 
start may be expensive but cheaper in the 
long run. Village planning is in its 
infancy. It represents not a waste_but a 
saving of money in forestalling the need 
to spend great sums in the future for 
reconstruction and in providing for the 
economic, social, and esthetic welfare of 
the 20,000,000 people who live in villages 
or small towns and of the 30,000,000 
farm people who use them. 




Paper shell pecan grove on the Valley division of the Yuma project, Arizona 



10 



NEW RECLAMATION EHA 



January, 1929 



Cooperative Dairying on the Minidoka Project, Idaho 



TDROOKS DARLINGTON, son of the 

-^ superintendent of the Minidoka proj- 
ect, Idaho, has written an interesting arti- 
cle, printed in a recent issue of the Burley 
Bulletin, describing the work of the Mini- 
Cassia Cooperative Dairymen's Associa- 
tion, from which the following is taken: 

Out on the fringes of the city is an 
industry about which few Burley people 
are informed. A modest-looking build- 
ing, formerly the potato-flour plant, there 
houses the working base of the Mini- 
Cassia Cooperative Dairymen's Associa- 
tion. 

In the cheerless dawn of morning a 
fleet of eight trucks may be seen "scoot- 
ing" out along the country roads collect- 
ing burdens of milk and cream from 
members of the association. There are 
approximately 550 calls to make. 

The fleet of trucks hurries back and 
deposits its cans of milk and cream at the 
Mini-Cassia plant in Burley. Each can 
bears a number, which indicates its 
owner. The daily shipments of each 
member producer are in that way ac- 
counted for. If the dairyman has already 
separated his milk, the cream is shipped 
direct to the Jerome Cooperative Cream- 
ery, with which the local unit is affiliated, 
where it is converted into butter, ice 
cream, and buttermilk. Each can of 
cream is worth about $20. 

The unseparated milk is first dumped 
into a big vat, then pumped up into a 
machine where spiral heated flanges 



resolve through it, bringing the tempera- 
ture to about 98 F. This is approxi- 
mately the temperature at which it comes 
from the cow and is the most efficient 
heat for separation. The separation 
process is next. The cream flows from 
this big separator over a cooler and into 
waiting cans at the rate of $3 a minute. 

The cream obtained here is shipped to 
Jerome the same as that which is sepa- 
rated on the farm. The skim milk, heated 
to about 115, flows into two huge vats, 
where the curdling process takes place. 
The heat has activated the bacteria in 
the milk, which causes precipitation of 
the curd. When the hard material has 
settled on the bottom the whey is drained 
off and returned to the producers to be 
used as swine food. 

The curd is shoveled into burlap con- 
tainers and a number of these are put 
under a press and subjected to enormous 
pressure, and behold, there is casein, that 
magic substance. The casein looks like 
"cottage cheese", but is harder and dryer. 
This, then, is casein in the making. This 
by-product of the dairy industry then 
goes to the Buhl plant where it is further 
dried, then shipped East to be converted 
into a multitude of articles and sub- 
stances. 

This cooperative dairying is more of an 
industry than most people think. There 
are 17 people employed in the plant alone. 
But the most surprising fact is that the 
Mini-Cassia Dairymen's Association pays 



out about $1,000 per day for cream and 
milk. Thirty thousand dollars a month 
pouring into the Minidoka project is a 
lump of gold not to be sniffed at. 

The association, according to Fletcher 
Haynes, local manager, has this year 
shown an increase of approximately 25 
per cent over 1927. This organization is 
one link in a big hook-up. Together 
with associations in Twin Falls, Wendell, 
and Buhl, it is affiliated with the Jerome 
Cooperative Creamery. The products of 
these groups are marketed through the 
Challenge Butter Association of Los 
Angeles, another cooperative organiza- 
tion. Challenge Butter is in turn affiliated 
with the Land O' Lakes Association in 
the Middle West and the East. 

Facts such as the $1,000 per day rolling 
into the farmers' pockets mean a good 
deal to the future of this region. A semi- 
monthly cream check is a guaranteed 
income for the producer, an insurance 
against poor crop years, a stable profit 
year by year. The great expansion of 
the Mini-Cassia Association in two years 
is proof that more and more settlers are 
coming to see the wisdom of keeping a 
dairy herd. 



AT the end of November, 23,102 bales 
^^ of cotton had been ginned on the 
Yuma project compared with 12,130 
bales at the same date the year before. 
The price quoted was 20 cents a pound. 




Purebred Holstein dairy cattle on the Minidoka project, Idaho 



January, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



11 



The Exhibit of the Bureau of Reclamation at Seville, Spain 

From an article ly Miss Leila Mechlin in (he Washington (D. C.) Sunday Star, December 2, 1928 



E Bureau of Reclamation of the 
Department of the Interior has 
prepared an interesting and impressive 
pictorial showing of its work for our 
Government exhibit at the exposition 
to be held in Seville, Spain, in 1929. 
This exhibit, which has been prepared 
and planned by John H. Pellen, of the 
Bureau of Reclamation, comprises a 
large mural painting representing a typi- 
cal reclamation project, an equally large 
model of a 40-acre irrigated farm, 12 
transparencies, colored, showing different 
projects dams, picturesque waterways, 
fields under cultivation, and the desert 
before and after reclamation; also 8 
enlarged bromide prints colored by hand, 
showing different crops, the harvesting 
of crops, and other irrigation projects 
the story of a great work told, and well 
told, in pictures. 

The mural painting, which is at least 
14 or 15 feet long, represents a typical 
irrigation project in an arid part of our 



great Southwest, and depicts the conser- 
vation of water in the mountains for irri- 
gation and electric power by the use of 
storage dams, a diversion dam, and a 
distributing system of canals and laterals, 
a scene designed somewhat after the Salt 
River irrigation project in the State of 
Arizona. In the foreground is the desert, 
with sagebrush and strange cactus growths, 
then comes a wide area which is like a 
green carpet unrolled on the desert's sandy 
floor at the base of the foothills, then the 
mountains towering high with a glimpse, 
in a midway gap, of cascades of water 
three great falls like steps over three gi- 
gantic dams. Above the mountains is 
the blue sky, broken and made more 
beautiful by floating clouds tinted by the 
late afternoon sun. It is an extremely 
realistic scene, and yet one in which the 
painter, Frank J. McKenzie, has intro- 
duced more than a little poetic sugges- 
tion, using artistic freedom in expression. 
A photograph of a portion of the painting 



is reproduced on the front cover of this 
issue of the ERA. 

Mr. McKenzie is one of those scien- 
tific lilustrators who find it possible to 
be both accurate and artistic. Certainly 
nothing could better exhibit to the 
people of Spain the methods which our 
Reclamation Bureau has taken to fulfill 
the oldprophecy, "The desert shall blos- 
som as therose," than does his recent 
work here. 

The model of the 40-acre irrigated farm 
tells the same story in a different form. 
Here a single homestead with its farm 
land is set forth; a bit of Mr. McKenzie's 
gigantic green carpet is seen at close range. 
This model was executed by Victor Min- 
deleff. The model was designed in this 
instance, however, by Mr. Pellen. 

The transparencies and the large bro- 
mides were colored by hand by Mrs. 
Carrie B. Allen, of the Bureau of Recla- 
mation, and they carry the story still 
further and over a wider range. 



Washington Office 
Christmas Fund Society 

The Reclamation Christmas Fund 
Society was organized about 12 years 
ago by employees of the Washington 
office of the Bureau of Reclamation for 
the purpose of establishing a convenient 
form of saving of a fund with which to 
make Christmas purchases. The fiscal 
year of the society runs from December 1 
to November 30. Shares are subscribed 
at the beginning of the fiscal year, each 
share representing an amount of $1 per 
month to be paid into the fund. Pay- 
ments are made semimonthly on each pay 
day and the entire fund with earnings 
matures on November 30 of each year. 
In addition to the savings feature of the 
society it has another important advan- 
tage in loaning money to its members dur- 
ing the year. Members are permitted to 
borrow approximately 1^ times the 
amount they will pay in during the year, 
each loan being secured by the indorse- 
ment of two members of the society. 
Delinquencies in payments on shares are 
penalized 1 cent per share per day of 
delinquency after three days of grace. 

During the year ending November 30, 
1928, the 29 members paid in a total of 
$2,916 in shares or approximately $100 
each. The earnings during the year 
amounted to $82.46, made up of interest 



at 6 per cent on loans to members, 
interest from the bank at 5 per cent on 
savings certificates amounting to $700 and 
at 4 per cent on savings balance amounting 
to $12.07, and $4.85 in penalties. Earn- 
ings amounted to nearly 6 per cent on 
payments made to the society. The 
average interest on Christmas savings 
accounts in Washington, D. C., is ap- 
proximately 3 per cent. At the end of 



the year $1,000 was outstanding in loans 
which was wiped out by amounts due the 
borrowers. 

The affairs of the club are administered 
by a treasurer, which position changes 
hands every few years in order to dis- 
tribute the work. In recognition of the 
work the treasurer is required to perform, 
a deduction is made of 25 per cent from 
the gross earnings as salary. 




Upstream face of Gibson dam, Sun River project, Montana 



12 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



Janu-iry, 1929 



Running the Farm by Electricity in Washington 



r HOPE it will not be considered a cheap 
joke if I remark that the story in the 
September number of the NEW RECLA- 
MATION ERA by J. F. Bruins was a bear. 

Mr. Bruins is doing something for the 
world on his little Idaho ranch. And to 
all farmers and farmers' wives everywhere 
who read the tale of how electricity 
brought savings of time and so reduced 
costs of production as to become a sound 
investment there will come the vista of 
"our own home fixed up that way." 

It isn't really fixing up. It is good 
economy to milk by electric machines, 
light the barns and all the other outbuild- 
ings, as well as the dwelling, with Edison 
magic, pump the water, and then distri- 
bute it over the plant for both human and 
animal comfort. Mr. Bruins is solving 
the problem of keeping farmers on the 
farm. He is making home life on his 
irrigated patch as attractive as under the 
bright lights of the city and that is all 
there is to the problem of keeping the 
farm kids on the farm. Give them modern 
conveniences and modern social contacts 
and they will be content to stay put where 
they were born. 

The writer has known several such 
farm plants as that described by the 
Idaho man. One in particular is the 
famous Gallagher ranch near Stratford, 
Wash. Stratford will be hard to find on 
the map. It is only an agentless stop for 
the Great Northern "dinky" between 
Spokane and Wentachee, but if you are 
driving a car over the North Central 
Highway along the northern border of 
the desert, which is part of the proposed 
Columbia Basin irrigation project, just 
keep your eye peeled for a right turn off 
the road the west side of Wilson Creek 
that seems as well used as the highway 
itself. The Gallagher ranch is just a 
mile up the turn. 

It is an oasis of green lawns, fruit trees, 
vineyards, flowers, bees, and gardens 
where life flows pleasantly and where 
hospitality is extended to from half a 
dozen to 50 guests each Sunday after- 
noon not only the serving of tea and 
cake and ice cream by the delightful 
hostess, but going to the extent of setting 
tables on the porches around the big stone 
house for the serving of innumerable 
helpings of fried chicken with trimmings. 
That oasis is the product of electric 
pumps and water. 

The story must go back to the beginning 
if you care to have it in all details as it 
appeals to me. Thirty years ago David 
E. Gallagher ran a band of sheep. He 



By a westerner 

wintered them on the open desert and 
at the hay stacks of the homesteaders 
who went into the Columbia Basin country 
to try to make a living by using ordinary 
farming methods and depending on natural 
conditions for moisture to grow crops. 
In the summer the sheep were driven to 
the open ranges in the adjoining moun- 
tains. A trained nurse came to the 
sanitarium at Soap Lake. You have 
guessed it. They met and became the 
Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher of present-day 
fame. 

After spending a lot of money trying 
to raise feed for his sheep (the homestead- 
ers having faded out of the picture) Mr. 
Gallagher filed on a homestead beside a 
living lake in Grant County. Nobody 
knows how the lake derives its waters, 
but it always contains plenty of water. 
They quit the sheep business and set out 
a 40-acre orchard. Electric pumps forced 
the water from the lake to the orchard 
and the trees thrived. While they were 
attaining the bearing stage the Gallaghers 
made money by keeping chickens and 
turkeys, as well as a few cows. The 
chicken runs often contained 2,500 hens, 
and in many years the former nurse 
marketed as many as 1,000 turkeys. 
Cows and pigs helped pay the bills while 
the orchards grew. 

It was hard work from early morning 
until late at night. And not the least 
of it was neighboring with neighbors 
from 5 to 25 miles distant. In sickness 
or in death these desert dwellers do not 
measure distance. They go to the aid of 
those in need. 

After the orchards began to yield their 
profits the poultry was allowed to depart, 
largely via the frying pan on hospitable 
days, and then the Gallaghers began the 
building of their home. It is a six-room 
house with porches on three sides, made 
of the basalt stone of the desert country 
and having walls 24 inches thick. The 
sun may beat unmercifully on the roof, 
but inside it is always as cool as a ring- 
side seat in an ice factory. 

Next came a lighting system, also 
extended to the fruit packing plant and 
the barns. And after that came electrical 
equipment for the kitchen, the dressing 
table, the laundry, the separator, the 
churn, and the refrigerator. Mrs. Galla- 
gher cooks on an electric stove that is big 
enough for a hotel, and she finds the cost 
to be less than coal for an old-fashioned 
stove. They even sort their apples at 
packing time by electrically -^operated 
machines. 



And lastly has come the complete 
system of plumbing by which water is 
carried to every room in the house. If 
any reader has ever driven over a western 
desert all day, had his clothing covered 
with dust, and felt his skin to be a filthy 
mess of sweat and mud, then he can 
appreciate that bathroom at the Galla- 
gher ranch, his tub filled with clear, soft 
water and hot. A bathroom with tiled 
walls and floor, painted ceiling as white as 
snow, and a rack full of towels in easy 
reach. 

The Gallaghers find it difficult to state 
what all this has cost. It has come grad- 
ually over a period of 18 years. They 
know that they pay an average of $25 a 
year per acre for pumping water to their 
orchard lands of which there are about 40 
acres, bordered by alfalfa fields that cut 
an average of 6 to 7 tons per acre. Some 
years there have been large profits and 
some years they have made only a little 
above expenses, just like other business 
concerns. But they have reached the 
point where they are pretty sure of a 10 
per cent net return on a valuation of 
$40,000 on a 96-acre ranch. When the 
returns go higher it is velvet. They ride 
in a sedan these days, but their first little 
car is still on the ranch and ready for 
service. 

The writer understands that the Bruins 
and the Gallaghers are the exceptions to 
the rule among settlers on the western 
deserts, but he would like to point out 
that the same sunshine, rich soil, and 
long growing season belong to all alike. 
The Gallagher place is just north of the 
great desert which is included in the pro- 
posed Columbia Basin irrigation project. 
The tract of land in the proposed project 
has no lake from which to pump water. 
Water can not be raised from beneath 
the surface of the land as does Mr. Bruins 
in Idaho. Water for irrigation must be 
brought a distance of 134 miles in a 
ditch, but when the water is there the 
same magic that worked for Bruins and 
for Gallagher will work for equally effi- 
cient and industrious settlers who come 
along to occupy the lands. 



TTENRY SEMON, a Klamath project 
farmer, won first and second prizes 
for commercial Netted Gem potatoes at 
the Pacific Northwest Potato Show held 
at Spokane. This is the first year that 
Klamath County has sent exhibits to 
this show. 



January, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



13 



Colonization in South America 



ARGENTINA 



HE plan of colonization of immense 
areas of land in Argentina was ap- 
proved by the boards of the various rail- 
road companies in a consortium signed in 
London in May, 1927. 

The need for systematic colonization 
has been felt for a long time, but hereto- 
fore the problem has not received the 
support of private enterprise. 

It is planned to bring in immigrants in 
groups. They will not be thrown on their 
own resources, but the railroads will build 
homes, fence farms, and give long terms 
in the purchase of these farms. In addi- 
tion to the house and fencing, sundry farm 
implements will be furnished. It is also 
planned to give instruction to the settlers 
in regard to the best crops to be grown. 

The underlying plan is to create groups 
of independent small farmers, the rail- 
roads purchasing large tracts of land and 
dividing them into smaller tracts. If the 
newcomer desires he may work for others 
in the neighborhood until he has not 
only acquired experience but saved up 
sufficient money to take up one of the 
tracts of land as an independent farmer. 

The Pacific Railway is the first of the 
companies to initiate this plan and it has 
already started to build farm houses and 
barns at Leguizamon. About 40 families 
from the north of Italy will be the first 
settlers. It is believed that the immi- 
grants should arrive in November, when 
practicable, in order that they may work 
on neighboring farms through the summer 
and earn sufficient to start operating 
their own land by the following April or 
May. The group of farms mentioned 
will consist of about 100 hectares each, 
including besides a comfortable house, well, 
pump for drinking water, shade trees and 
necessary tools for working land. Fur- 
ther improvements may be made with 
the aid of "assistance credits" furnished 
through the consortium, and advances 
may be obtained by the colonists for the 
purchase of livestock, including cows and 
horses, fowls, and for seed. It is planned 
to have the payments for the purchase 
price extend over a period of 30 years, at 
the end of which period the farms become 
the property of the occupants. The 
colonists will be carefully selected as to 
their physical fitness and ability to over- 
come the hardships and pioneering diffi- 
culties. 

PARAGUAY 

f Paraguay is now the goal of one of the 
greatest migrations in recent human 
history. Mennonites from various coun- 



tries, including Canada, are establishing 
homesteads in the rich agricultural region 
west of the upper Paraguay River at a 
distance of about 1,700 miles from Buenos 
Aires and it is expected that within a few 
years more than 100,000 of these people 
will have settled on 3,000,000 acres that 
have been set aside for them in Paraguay. 

This land is located along the twenty- 
second parallel of latitude, westward from 
Puerto Casado where there are three of 
the four essentials necessary for the suc- 
cess of a colonization project, namely, 
a fertile soil, plentiful sunshine and 
abundant water. The other essential, 
labor, will be supplied by the immigrants. 
The first Mennonites to settle in this 
region found oranges, bananas, and cotton 
growing wild and in the year in which 
thousands have been established they 
have produced two crops, including maize 
and almost every known kind of vegetable. 

A base has been established at Puerto 
Casado on the Paraguay River. A hotel 
and several substantial community houses 
have been erected where the colonists are 
taken care of until they commence their 
journey into the interior of the country 
to take up their homesteads. Good roads 
have been established, and a railroad 100 
kilometers long has been built into the 
region being settled. 

BRAZIL 

The Government of Brazil has offered 
to the South American Development Co. 
of Japan a tract of land of about two and 
a half million acres in the State of Para 
for the purpose of colonization of emi- 
grants from Japan. The company plans 



Improved Farms Sell 

Readily at Minidoka 

A number of transfers of farm property 
have been reported recently from the 
Minidoka project, Idaho. Most of the 
farms sold were taken by outside residents. 
An 80-acre farm 3 miles northeast of 
Rupert sold for $5,000 cash. An 80-acre 
farm 4 miles southeast of Rupert sold for 
$9,000 and a similar farm west of Rupert 
sold for the same price with a substantial 
cash payment. A farm of 80 acres 4 
miles north of Paul sold for $9,000, and 
another 80-acre farm in the same vicinity 
sold for $10,000. A highly improved 
80-acre farm 4 miles southwest of Burley 
was reported sold at a high figure, and a 
40-acre tract across the river was sold 
to an outside buyer. 



to send 10,000 families from Japan to 
Brazil in the next 10 years and it is re- 
ported that the Japan-Brazil Association 
has been organized for this purpose. A 
training school has been established for a 
short 10-day course at Kobe, capable of 
handling 700 families, and the emigrants 
will there learn of the customs and local 
conditions before departure to Brazil. 

The Japanese Government has granted 
subsidies in the past for financing emi- 
grants going to Brazil, as follows: 



Year 


Amount 


Number 
of emi- 
grants 


1923 


r7i> 
20,000 


110 


1924 


600,000 


3,164 


1925 


600,000 


5,324 


1926 


1,000,000 


7,359 


1927 


1, 550, 000 


7,750 









1 Yen is equal to about 50 cents. 
PERU 

A large concession of land has been 
granted by the Peruvian Government to 
a representative of a Polish delegation 
which came to Peru in 1927. The area, 
which is located in the Department of 
Loreto, contains approximately 350,000 
hectares. Under the terms of this con- 
cession, the representative of the Polish 
delegation is under obligation to bring 
from Europe settlers beginning with 50 
families during 1928 when the repre- 
sentative will obtain 50,000 hectares of 
the area set aside for this colonization 
project. During 1929, it is expected 
that 180 families will arrive, and under 
the terms of the contract 60,000 addi- 
tional hectares will be allotted to this 
representative. If by the end of 1930, 
300 families have been established, he 
will be given 100,000 hectares additional 
and by the end of 1931, if 360 families 
have been established on the land, the 
remaining 140,000 hectares will be allotted 
to this representative of the Polish dele- 
gation. 

The concessionaire must pay all trans- 
portation charges of the settlers and 
furnish camps, tools, seeds, etc. The 
Government will give each settler a 
freehold, ranging from 25 to 100 hectares 
and the balance of the land is given as 
a freehold to the concessionaire for his 
expense in the work of colonization. 
The Government of Peru realizes the 
advantage to be derived from coloniza- 
tion on such a scale by immigrants from 
Europe and it is believed that the acquisi- 
tion of this number of settlers will aid in 
the development of Peru's national 
resources. 



14 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



January, 1929 



Discretionary Powers of Irrigation District Board of Directors 



OROAD discretionary powers in the 
management of its business were held 
to be vested in the board of directors of an 
irrigation district formed under the la\vs of 
New Mexico, in a recent decision of the 
Supreme Court of New Mexico sustaining 
the board's action and denying a motion 
for rehearing in the case of Sperry v. 
Elephant Butte Irrigation District, 32 
N. M. , 270 Pac. . 

This was an injunction suit brought by- 
landowners to restrain the board from 
including in its budget for the 1927 tax 
rolls, the estimated cost of operation and 
maintenance for the ensuing year on the 
ground that under the then prevailing 
practice the district would not disburse 
such amounts to the United States, under 
its contracts and annual notices, until the 
year following that in which the charges 



\\ t>n>. incurred or the second ensuing year 
from the one in which the budget in ques- 
tion was made. Laws of New Mexico, 
1921, chapter 39, section 3, required the 
board to "estimate and determine the 
amount of funds required for the ensuing 
year." 

The court sustained the action of the 
district upon its contention that it was, 
in the judgment of its board of directors, 
deemed sound business practice and ex- 
pedient .at the time to anticipate the esti- 
mated operation and maintenance cost 
for the ensuing year even though, under 
the practice then prevailing, such amount 
would not necessarily be disbursed by the 
district during that year. 

After discussing the exercise of judg- 
ment by the district board in such matters 
and the question of the right of landowners 



to require the board to show each item in 
its estimate as a positive "need" or an 
inescapable "obligation," the court said: 

"We do not think that this district 
could operate practically or successfully 
under any such landowner surveillance or 
court dictation, and we therefore greatly 
doubt, at the outset, the intention of the 
legislature to impose it. 

"In construing this statute, in view of 
the discretionary powers conferred upon 
the board (Laws, 1921, ch. 39, sec. 2), and 
without which the corporation could not 
successfully operate, we do not think we 
are bound to that strictness which applies 
when determining the powers of municipal 
corporations. See Crawford v. Imperial 
Irrigation District, 200 Cal. 318, 253 Pac. 
726." tf. J. S. Detries, District Counsel. 



Riparian Rights in California 



TN 1850, the Legislature of the State of 
* California adopted the common law 
rule of England, and in 1886 the Supreme 
Court of the State, in the case of Lux v. 
Haggin (10 Pac. 674), declared that the 
legislature had by such act adopted the 
English doctrine of riparian rights, that 
is, that the owner of land bordering on a 
stream could insist upon all of the waters 
of that stream being allowed to flow un- 
diminished past his land. This rule 



sanctioned great waste of natural re- 
sources, and was never adapted to the 
arid regions, but was reaffirmed by the 
Supreme Court in 1926 in the case of 
Herminghaus et al. v. Southern Califor- 
nia Edison Co. (252 Pac. 607). 

As a result of the ruling in the Herming- 
haus case, in 1927 the State legislature 
proposed an amendment to the State 
Constitution, which was adopted by the 
people at the election held November 6, 




1928. Riparian owners in this State are 
now bound to rules of reasonableness in 
the use of water. The amendment follows : 

SEC. 3. It is hereby declared that be- 
cause of the conditions prevailing in this 
State the general welfare requires that the 
water resources of the State be put to 
beneficial use to the fullest extent of which 
they are capable, and that the waste or 
unreasonable use or unreasonable method 
of use of water be prevented, and that the 
conservation of such waters is to be exer- 
cised with a view to the reasonable and 
beneficial use thereof in the interest of the 
people and for the public welfare. The 
right to water or to the use or flow of 
water in or from any natural stream or 
water course in this State is and shall be 
limited to such water as shall be reasonably 
required for the beneficial use to be served, 
and such right does not and shall not ex- 
tend to the waste or unreasonable use or 
; unreasonable method of use or unreason- 
! able method of diversion of water. 
i Riparian rights in a stream or water 
course attach to, but to no more than so 
I much of the flow thereof as may be re- 
! quired or used consistently with this sec- 
tion, for the purposes for which such lands 
I are, or may be made adaptable, in view 
[ of such reasonable and beneficial uses; 
1 Provided, however, that nothing herein con- 
tained shall be construed as depriving any 
riparian owner of the reasonable use of 
water of the stream to which his land is 
riparian under reasonable methods of 
diversion and use, or of depriving any 
appropriator of water to which he is law- 
fully entitled. This section shall be self- 
executing, and the legislature may also 
enact laws in the furtherance of the policy 
in this section contained. 

R. J. Coffey, DistricfCounsel. 



Qerber dam.tKlamath project, Oregon-California 



QlXTEEN carloads, containing 23,000 
^ turkeys, were shipped from the 
Newlands project for the Thanksgiving 
market. The total value of the project 
turkey crop for 1928 is estimated at 
8300,000. 



.January, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



15 



Government Power Averts 
Sugar Factory Shutdown 

The Holly Sugar Corporation has a 
large sugar factory at Torrington, Wyo., 
on the North Platte project which has 
been processing an exceptionally large 
quantity of sugar beets grown on 22,000 
acres, reported to be the largest acreage 
for any sugar factory in the United States. 
Power for the operation of this factory is 
obtained from a steam power plant oper- 
ated in connection with the factory in 
accordance with the usual practice. 

A year ago some trouble was experi- 
enced with the steam turbine and the 
corporation was apprehensive about oper- 
ating another year without a reserve 
power supply and was considering the 
question of installing a duplicate steam 
turbo-generator which would have in- 
volved a rather large investment. The 
United States has a high voltage trans- 
mission line which terminates near the 
sugar factory where power is delivered to 
the town of Torrington, and in lieu of 
installing additional generating capacity 
in its steam plant the corporation decided 
to enter into a contract with the United 
States for stand-by power service. The 
corporation provided a substation of 
1,000 kv-a. capacity foi receiving power 
at high voltage from the Government 
line which was completed and tested out 
on November 10. 

The following day trouble developed 
in the corporation's steam turbine which 
necessitated taking it out of service for 
repairs and power was immediately 
secured from the system of the United 
States. The stand-by arrangement be- 
tween the United States and the Holly 
Sugar Corporation has been mutually 
beneficial as the corporation has been 
saved an expensive and serious shutdown 
of its factory at the peak of the operating 
season and the United States has received 
$5,482.50 additional revenue which it 
would not have received otherwise and 
with no increase in the cost of operation 
of its power system. 



from 39 bushels an acre to a 5-year annual 
average of 80 bushels to the acre. This 
was accomplished through careful selec- 
tion of seed in the field, based upon the 
type desired, selecting for desirable 
qualities, and rejecting for undesirable 
characteristics. Mr. Smith has worked 
up an excellent seed business, shipping 
last year over 2,000 pounds to Africa, 
5,000 pounds to Mexico, and large 
quantities to seven States in this country. 



Breeding of Seed Corn 

Rio Grande Project 

The breeding of seed corn in the 
Mesilla Valley, that land of cotton, corn, 
and alfalfa under the Rio Grande irriga- 
tion project, New Mexico-Texas, has 
brought results. N. M. Smith of Las 
Cruces, N. Mex., a former Kansas corn 
grower, working with the common Mex- 
ican June corn has brought the yield up 



Irrigated Lands 

Out of the desert's ugliness has sprung 
A clean green glory and a flame of 

bloom. 
The old earth laps her eager, thirsty 

tongue 
Through water doled from lateral and 

flume, 
And gratefully gives back her song of 

praise 
In wheat and corn, in barley and in 

rye, 
In gold and scarlet fruit, in silver 

sprays 
Of poplars tossed like fountains on 

the sky. 

The rivers and the proud reluctant hills 
Were forced to yield their waters to 

this land. 

The scent of sage is lost; the valley fills 
With shadows where great apple 

orchards stand, 

And out of barren rocks and bitter loam 
A garden springs and man has called 

it home. 

Grace Noll Crowell, in the New York 
Times. 



Land Bank Officials Note 
Belle Fourche Grain 

Officials of the Federal Land Bank of 
Omaha visited the Belle Fourche project 
recently to check up on local conditions 
in connection with present and prospective 
loans. They appeared very favorably 
impressed with the improved conditions 
and the many evidences of prosperity. 

As a result of the visit the Omaha bank 
will again make loans in this section, but 
at present only on the sandy loam areas 
and the better classes of farms on the 
heavy soils, and then only on farms 
which do not have seepage. 

Loans will be on a basis of 50 per cent 
of the appraised valuation of the land and 
20 per cent of the value of the insurable 
buildings, with a deduction for unpaid 
construction and drainage charges. With 
the new contract in operation, spreading 
the repayment of construction charges 
over a long period of years without inter- 
est, this deduction will be about half of 
the total unpaid charges, affording a 
much more favorable consideration than 
has been given heretofore. The action of 
the bank is a starting point in making 
this form of credit available and a stepping 
stone to increased activities in the future. 



The harvesting season found the Nation 
with a full larder of agricultural products 
and the purchasing power of farm products 
in terms of other commodities within 12 
per cent of the 1909-1914 pre-war average. 



The total crop production last year in 
the United States was 7.6 per cent above 
the average of the last 10 years. 




Mr. Smith's cornBeld in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, Rio Grande project, New Mexico-Texas. 
Estimated to yield 85 bushels per acre and 25 tons of silage per acre 



16 



NEW RECLAMATION EBA 



January, 1928 



Reclamation Organization -Activities and Project Visitors 



. ELWOOD MEAD, Commissioner 
of Reclamation, has been invited to 
give an address in the near future on 
the functions and accomplishments of 
the bureau, over station WJSV, Wash- 
ington, D. C. . 

George C. Kreutzer, director of rec- 
lamation economics, gave an address on 
.the status of Federal reclamation work 
in the United States before the American 
Railway Development Association at 
their meeting in Chicago, December 7, 
1928. 



J. M. Hughes, land commissioner, and 
G. H. Plummer, western land agent, 
Northern Pacific Railway; and F. A. 
Kern, secretary of the Kittitas reclama- 
tion district, held a conference recently 
with the commissioner in the Washington 
office concerning the development of 
lands on the Kittitas division of the 
Yakima project. 

The employees of the Washington 
office have become boosters for the 
Owyhee project apple. A box sent by 
E. C. Van Petten, of Ontario, to Doctor 
Mead was generously distributed by him 
around the office. 



A. J. Wiley, consulting engineer, was 
struck by a passing automobile while 
inspecting the American Falls Dam re- 
cently. He was immediately removed to 
the hospital at American Falls, Idaho, 
where an examination disclosed a broken 
collar bone and a badly bruised head. 
Mr. Wiley was resting easily by the 



Nevada Turkey Growers 
Association Organized 

The Nevada Turkey Growers Associa- 
tion, including five counties in western 
Nevada, has been organized for marketing 
turkeys. In t nese counties are about 
95,000 birds, of which 60,000 are on the 
Newlands project. Only No. 1 birds 
will be packed under the Nevada trade 
name, which is a diamond with a large 
"N" inside. At the upper corner is the 
word "Nevada," at the lower corner 
"Turkeys," at the left "Our," and at the 
right " Best." The " Diamond N Brand" 
is stenciled on the ends of the crates, the 
diamond being in red and the data sur- 
rounding, such as number of turkeys in 
the crate, the gross weight, tare, net, and 
by whom packed, as well as the name of 
the association, in black. 



following day, and his speedy recovery 
is the earnest wish of all his friends. 



D. Joseph Hunt, assistant engineer, 
and Wallace A. Waldorf, junior engineer, 
were detailed temporarily to the Denver 
office recently to expedite completion of 
the designs for the Kittitas division of 
the Yakima project, after which they 
will return to the Ellensburg office. 



Recent visitors at the Washington 
office included A. P. Davis, former 
director; F. E. Weymouth, former chief 
engineer; and H. P. Seidcmann, former, 
chief accountant. 



Shizuo Sugimura, reclamation engineer, 
professor in the Imperial University of 
Formosa, Taihoku, Formosa, Japan, spent 
several days in the Denver office studying 
irrigation construction. 



R. J. Newell, superintendent of the 
Boise project, F. A. Banks, construction 
engineer on the Owyhee project, and 
Walker R. Young, construction engineer 
on the Kittitas division of the Yakima 
project, spent a day recently on the 
Vale project viewing the work in progess. 



B. E. Hayden, reclamation economist, 
spent several days on the Minidoka proj- 
ect, summarizing the crop census and con- 
ferring with various officials and dealers 
concerning crop values. 



Recent visitors on the Milk River 
project included R. V. McKenzie, travel- 
ing freight agent, E. B. Duncan and C. 
D. Greenfield, agricultural development 
agents of the Great Northern Railway 
Co. and I. D. O'Donnell, of the Montana 
State extension service. 



Porter J. Preston, superintendent of 
the Yakima project, was on the Umatilla 
project recently in connection with his 
assignment as supervisor of the crop 
census for both the east and west divi- 
sions of the project. 



Recent visitors on the Yuma project 
included Maj. C. P. Gross, district en- 
gineer, War Department; Sr. Adolfo 
Orive Alba, civil engineer, Mexico City; 
A. T. Mitchelson, irrigation engineer, and 
H. F. Blaney, associate irrigation engineer, 



Department of Agriculture, Berkeley; and 
R. E. Blair, Department of Agriculture, 
State of California. 



C. M. Day, mechanical engineer, Den- 
ver office, spent two days on the North 
Platte project making an inspection of 
the outlet works at the Pathfinder and 
Guernsey Reservoirs. 



The Rio Grande project was visited 
recently by Hon. Louis C. Cramton, 
Member of Congress from Michigan; 
Francis C. Wilson, water commissioner 
for New Mexico; Ibrahim Moh. Zaki, 
assistant director of works for the Egyp- 
tian Government; and J. L. Savage, chief 
designing engineer of the Denver office. 



Device Mixes Gypsum 

In Irrigation Water 

In some irrigated districts of the West 
there is a saying that "soft water makes 
hard land and hard water soft land." 
This is a simple and practical statement 
drawn from experience. The irrigating 
farmer has found that under some con- 
ditions it is well to apply gypsum, which 
has a high calcium content, to land with 
a view to preventing or improving the 
condition of the relatively impervious 
"hard spots" or "hard lands." 

It was believed that if gypsum could be 
applied in solution it would act more 
quickly and more effectively than by 
methods of spreading formerly in favor. 
A method of mixing gypsum with the 
irrigation water which is effective and 
economical has recently been perfected. 
The device provides a hopper for the 
gypsum, a paddle wheel operating in the 
irrigation ditch to provide power, a re- 
volving feeding device which measures a 
given quantity of gypsum and dumps it 
into the water, and a submerged stirring 
and mixing cylinder which helps to dis- 
solve a large proportion of the gypsum 
powder. 

The apparatus has been tested at the 
field station at Fallon, Newlands project, 
Nevada, and gives satisfactory service. 



Business men and farmers have come 
to realize that advantages follow from 
consolidation and cooperation through 
which large business units come into 
existence. 

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFiCE: 1829 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 

HON. ROY O. WEST, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

E. C. Flnney, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. O. Patterson, Solicitor of the Interior Department; ' 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary 

Wmhlnitan. D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubacb, Chief Accountant C. A. Biasell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N, McCulloch, Chief Clerk 
Denea. Colorado, Wllaa ButUlni 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer: E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer: 
L. N. McCleltoD, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Annand Oflutt, District Counsel; L. H. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent' 
C. A. Lyman, Fiscal Inspector. 



Project 


Office Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 


Belle Fourche Newell, S. Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt 
R. J. Newell . . . 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


Wm J Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise i ! Boise, Idaho 


W. L. Vernon 






Carlsbad Carlshftd. N. MBI 


L. E. Foster 


W. C. Berger 


W. C. Rerger 


H J S Devries 


Grand Valley 


Grand Junction, Colo. 
Ballantine Mont 


J. C. Page . . 


W. J. Chiesman 






Huntley J 


E. E. Lewis 








King Hill' 


King Hill, Idaho F. L. Kinkaid i 






Klamath 


Klamath Falls, Greg.. 
Savage, Mont 
Malta, Mont 


H. D. Newell N. O Whpnlnr 


Joseph C. Avery 
E. R. Scheppelmann- . 

E. E. Chahot 


R. J. Coffey 

E. E. Roddis 


Lower Yellowstone 
Mill River 


H. A. Parker 
H. H. Johnson 


E. R. Scheppelmann 


E. E. Chahot 


do 


Mlnldoka 1 


Burley, Idaho 


E. B. Darlington ! G. C. Patterson 


Miss A. J. Larson 


R. E. Stontflmvflr 


Newlands * 


Fallon, Nev 


A. W. Walker 


Miss E.M.Simmonds ' R. J. Cofley 


North Platte ' 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H. C Stetson Viriril E TTuhhnll 


Virffil F. TTuhhAll ! Wm I Hurto 


Okanogan 


Okanogan, Wash Calvin Casteel i N. D. Thnrn B. E. Stmitamvpr 


Orland 


Orland, Calif 


ROE Weber 


C H Lillingston 


C. H. Lillingston 
Frank P. Greene 


R. J. Coffey 

B. E. Stoutemyer 
H. J. S. Devries 
Wm. J. Burke 


Owyhee 


Nyssa, Oreg 


F. A. Banks 


H. N. Biokel 


Rio Grande 


El Paso, Tex 
Riverton, Wyo 


L. R. Fiock. 
H. D. Comstock 
C. C. Cragin 




L. S. Kennicott 
R. B. Smith 


Rlverton 


R. B. Smith 


Salt River ' . 


Phoenix, Ariz 




Powell, Wyo 


L. H. Mitchell 


W. F Sha 




E E Roddis 


Strawberry Valley 
Sun River 10 


Payson,Utah 


Lee R. Taylor 








Fairfleld, Mont 


G. O. Sanford ' H. W Johnson H W Johnson 


E E Roddis 




[Irrigon, Oreg 


A. C. Houghton 




Umatills " 
Uncompahgre.. 


\Hermiston, Oreg 
Montrose, Colo 


Enos D. Martin 




L.J.Foster G. H. Bolt 


F. D. Halm 


J. R. Alexander 


Vale 


Vale, Oreg 


H. W. Bashore- 
P. J. Preston . . 


C.M. Voyen 
R. K. Cunningham 


C. M. Voyen 


B. E. Stoutemyer 
do 


Yakima 


Yakima, Wash 


J. O. Oawler 






R M Priest 


H Tl Poaownlt B VT PhilohmiTn 


R J Cofley 











Larie CorutracUon Work 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo 

Dam. 
Kittitas 

Sun River, Gibson 
Dam. 



Coalville, Utah F. F. Smith " ] C. F. Williams.. 

Ellensburg, Wash Walker R. Young "...I E. R. Mills 

Augusta, Mont Ralph Lowry F.C.Lewis 



C. F. Williams J. R. Alexander Montrose, Colo. 

B. E. Stoutemyer I Portland, Oreg. 

F.C.Lewis E.E. Roddis Billings, Mont. 



' Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Bolse-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. I, 
1028. 

1 Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1027. 

1 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 

1 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation 
District on Apr. 1, 1028, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District 
on Deo. 2, 1016. 

1 Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1920. 

* Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1028, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1920, and Northport Division by 
Northport Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



' Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. . 

' Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. 

' Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

11 Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, and East Division by Hermiston Irrigation District informally on 
July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1928. 

11 Construction engineer. 



Important Investigations in Prof reu 



Project 



Office 



In charge of 



Cooperative agency 



Heart Mountain investigations ... 


Powell. Wyo I. B. Hosig 




Utah investigations . 


Salt Lake City, Utah E. O. Larson 


State of Utah. 


Truckefl River investigations 


Fallon, Nev ! A. W. Walker 




Yakima project extensions ._ _ 


Yakima, Wash ._ P. J. Preston _. 











.*.?: 

._. 




NEW 

RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



FEBRUARY, 1929 



NO. 2 




A 20-ACRE IRRIGATED FARM 



AN ENLARGED VISION OF 
RECLAMATION 

GT0 JATER is to-day our greatest undeveloped resource. 

KK Our streams and rivers offer us a possible total of 
55,000,000 horsepower and of this less than 11,000,000 has 
been developed. Of our 25,000 miles of possible inland water- 
ways probably less than 7,000 are really modernized, and the 
utility of much of these 7,000 miles is minimized by their 
isolation into segments of what should be connected trans- 
portation systems. 

We still have 30,000,000 acres of possible reclaimable and 
irrigable lands. And these water resources lie in every part 
of the union the great basins of the Columbia, the Colorado, 
the Sacramento, the San Joaquin, the Mississippi, the Ar\an- 
sas, the Platte, the Missouri, ths Ohio, the Cumberland, the 
Tennessee, the Hudson, the Great La^es, the Saint Lawrence, 
and many others. 

True conservation of water is not the prevention of use. 
Every drop of water that runs to the sea without yielding its 
full commercial returns to the nation is an economic loss, and 
that loss in all its economic implications can be computed in 
billions. 

I am not proposing that all these things should be done to- 
morrow. At this moment We could not ma^e economic use of 
the whole of this power, or all this land, or all these inland 
waterways but we Will need the whole of it within half a 
generation. And at this moment We have the urgent need for 
beginning certain major projects which will require years 
for completion. HERBERT HOOVER. 

From an address delivered in 1926 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cents a year 

ROY O. WEST ELWOOD MKAD 

Secretary of the Interior Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



February, 1929 



No. 2 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



'T'HE Farmers' Market at Las Cruces, 
Rio Grande project, shipped re- 
cently the first carload of spinach ever 
sent out from this section to eastern 
markets, although large quantities have 
been shipped heretofore by express and 
truck. The Farmers' Market has also 
been shipping out cars of mixed vege- 
tables, thus establishing an outlet for the 
surplus from the market gardens of 
Mesilla Valley. 



A N IRRIGATED farm conference was 
^ held recently at Chinook, Milk 
River project. The results of 1928 were 
thoroughly reviewed and recommenda- 
tions made for 1929 operations. If 
followed, these will tend to improve agri- 
cultural conditions on the project. Par- 
ticular stress was laid on the value of 
stock feeding as a major part of the farm 
program. 



State Highway Commission of 
Oregon has awarded a contract for 
grading and structures on 15.53 miles of 
highway which will provide convenient 
access to the irrigable lands of the Harper 
and Little Valley areas of the Vale pro- 
ject, for which it is expected that water 
will be available in 1930. 



E sugar factory on the Belle Fourche 
project sliced a total of 125.000 tons 
of beets from 10,500 acres, requiring 91 
days of operation and producing 30,000,- 
000 pounds of sugar. The average sugar 
content was 16.04 per cent. 



A 6- YEAR-OLD registered Holstein 
" cow belonging to Robert Girardell, 
of Rupert, Minidoka project, produced 
2,466 pounds of milk and 84.8 pounds of 
butterfat during November, leading 217 
cows of the Mini-Cassia Cow Testing 
Association. This cow produced 359 
pounds of butterfat during the six months 
June to November. 

3086429 



'T'HE South Dakota State superinten- 
dent of fisheries met recently with 
the Belle Fourche Commercial Club and 
outlined a plan for making the Belle 
Fourche reservoir a great bass fishing re- 
sort by planting vegetation on the lake 
bottom suitable for this species. The 
seining operations conducted for three 
months by this department resulted in 
removing 900,000 fish, mostly buffalo and 
carp. 



/CONSTRUCTION is about completed 
of the new cooperative creamery 
and cheese factory at Meridian, Boise 
project. 



A COOPERATIVE credit associa- 
tion for the purpose of financing the 
purchase of dairy cows is in process of 
formation on the Minidoka project. A 
recent meeting was attended by the assist- 
ant manager of the Intermediate Credit 
Bank of Spokane, creamery directors, and 
local dairymen. 



THE Fish and Game Commission of 
Nevada has appropriated $1,000 for 
the improvement of grounds near the 
dam at Lahontan Reservoir, Newlands 
project. 



hundred farms on the Newlands 
project have electric light and power 
service. The Truckee-Carson irrigation 
district is operating 175 miles of electric 
power lines. 



YUM A, "the sunshine capital of the 
United States," reports that sun- 
shine at that point for 1928 was 94 per 
cent of the total possible amount, with 
263 days registering 100 per cent and no 
day in the year being without some 
sunshine. 



F AST year's apple crop on the Okano- 
gan project was the largest ever 
grown in the history of the project, 
amounting to 1,400,000 boxes. 



THIRTY acres of new land on the 
Yuma Mesa are being prepared for 
citrus fruit planting, and it is expected 
that several additional units will be 
planted during the winter and spring 
months. 



"DUILDING permits issued by the 
*-* city of Yakima for 1928 totaled 
$1,058,895, and a carefully compiled state- 
ment of Yakima Valley products for 
the year, published by the Yakima 
Morning Herald, estimates shipments of 
all agricultural, dairy and livestock, and 
manufactured products at 55,799 cars, 
valued at $43,668,147. 



T^HE Kraft cheese factory at Montrose, 
Uncompahgre project, is now re- 
ceiving approximately 6,500 pounds of 
milk produced in the territory adjacent 
to Montrose, which is being turned into 
about 650 pounds of cheese daily. 



PHE largest single payment ever made 
on Lower Yellowstone project 
charges was received recently from Irri- 
gation District No. 1, amounting to 
$33,873.18 and covering in full the 
construction payment of $16,606.12 due 
December 31 and paying $16,949.13 
toward the operation and maintenance 
charge of $18,393 due at the same date. 
Prior credits more than made up the 
difference, so that this district is paid up 
in full to date and has advances of 
$317.93 on construction and $6,511.90 on 
operation and maintenance. 



"DANKING conditions all over the 
Rio Grande project are very satis- 
factory. At Las Cruces the deposits in 
the First National Bank passed the 
$1,000,000 mark and in the Mesilla Valley 
Bank deposits are close to the half- 
million mark. In the city of El Paso the 
banks report a gain in deposits in 1928 
of $2,692,826 over 1927. 

17 



18 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



February, 1929 



Digest of the Boulder Canyon Project Act for the Development of the 

Colorado River Basin 



SECTION 1. For flood control, im- 
proving navigation, and for storage 
and delivery of water for irrigation and 
domestic purposes, the Secretary of the 
Interior is authorized to construct, oper- 
ate, and maintain (1) a dam and incidental 
works at Black or Boulder Canyon suffi- 
cient to store not less than 20,000,000 
acre-feet of water, and (2) a main canal 
to supply water for the Imperial and 
Coachella Valleys in California. He is 
also authorized to construct, or cause to 
be constructed, at or near the dam, a 
power plant and incidental structures. 
All works are to be constructed and oper- 
ated in conformity with the Colorado 
River Compact referred to in section 
13 (a). 

SEC. 2 (a). A Colorado River fund is 
established, from which expenditures are 
to be made and into which revenues must 
be covered, all under the direction of the 
Secretary of the Interior 

SEC. 2 (b). The Secretary of the Treas- 
ury is authorized to advance to the 
Colorado River fund, as appropriations 
are made, such amounts as the Secretary 
of the Interior deems necessary, not to 
exceed $165,000,000. Of this amount 
$25,000,000 is to be allocated to flood con- 
trol and is to be repaid out of 62J/6 per 
cent of the revenue received, if any, in 
excess of that necessary to meet payments 
during the amortization period of 50 
years. If the $25,000,000 is not repaid 
in full during this period, 62J^ per cent 
of all net revenue shall be applied to pay- 
ment of the remainder. Interest at 4 
per cent upon amounts so advanced 
remaining unpaid is to be paid annually 
except as otherwise provided. 

SEC. 2 (c). No expenditures are to be 
made for operation and maintenance 
except from appropriations therefor. 

SEC. 2 (d). The Secretary of the 
Treasury, on June 30 of each year, is to 
charge the fund with the amount neces- 
sary for payment of interest at 4 per cent. 
If the fund is insufficient to make payment 
of interest, payment may be deferred 
and the amount so deferred is to bear 
interest at 4 per cent until paid. 

SEC. 2 (e). The Secretary of the In- 
terior is to certify to the Secretary of the 
Treasury at the close of each fiscal year 
the amount of money in the fund in excess 
of that necessary for construction, opera- 
tion, and maintenance and payment of 
interest. Upon receipt of such certificate 
the Secretary of the Interior shall charge 



Approved December 21, 1928 

the fund with the amount so certified as a 
repayment of advances made, which 
amount shall be covered into the Treasury 
to the credit of miscellaneous receipts. 

SEC. 3. An appropriation of not to 
exceed $165,000,000 is authorized. 

SEC. 4 (a). The act is not to take effect 
and nothing is to be done under it (1) until 
all of the seven States of the Colorado 
River Basin have ratified the Colorado 
River compact, and the President by 
proclamation shall have so declared, or 
(2) if the Colorado River compact is not 
ratified by all of the States within six 
months, until it is ratified by six of them, 
including California, provided California 
agrees that the use of water in that State 
shall not exceed 4,400,000 acre-feet of 
water plus not more than one-half of any 
excess unapportioned by the compact. 

A subsidiary compact may be negoti- 
ated among the States of Arizona, 
California, and Nevada regarding division 
of the 7,500,000 acre-feet of water 
allocated by the compact to the lower 
basin. 

SEC. 4 (6). Before any money is appro- 
priated or work done the Secretary of the 
Interior is to provide by contract for rev- 
enues adequate in his judgment to insure 
payment of all expenditures within 50 
years from the date the works are com- 
pleted, together with interest. 

No work is to be done on the main 
canal until contracts are executed ade- 
quate in the judgment of the Secretary of 
the Interior to repay costs incurred for 
construction, operation, and maintenance 
as provided by the reclamation law. 

If, during the period of amortization, 
revenues are received in excess of the 
amount necessary to meet periodical 
payments to the United States, as re- 
quired by the act, immediately after 
settlement of such periodical payments 
the States of Arizona and Nevada shall 
each be paid 18^ per cent of such excess. 

SEC. 5. The Secretary of the Interior 
is authorized to make contracts for stor- 
age of water in the reservoir and for its 
delivery on the main canal or at points 
on the river to be used for irrigation and 
domestic purposes. He is also author- 
ized to contract for the generation of 
electrical energy and for the sale at the 
switchboard to States, municipal corpo- 
rations, political subdivisions, and private 
corporations of electrical energy generated 
at the dam upon charges that will pro- 
vide revenue which, in addition to other 



revenues accruing under the reclamation 
law and under this act, will, in his judg- 
ment, cover all expense of operation and 
maintenance incurred, and meet the 
amortization payment described in sec- 
tion 4(6). 

After repayment to the United States 
of all moneys, with interest, the charges 
are to be on such basis as may be pre- 
scribed by Congress, and the revenues 
are to be kept in a separate fund to be 
expended within the Colorado River 
Basin. 

SEC. 5 (a). No contracts for electrical 
energy or for the generation thereof are 
to be of longer duration than 50 years 
after such energy is ready for delivery. 

Contracts made pursuant to subdivi- 
sion (a) of section 5 are to be made with 
a view to obtaining reasonable returns 
and are to contain provisions whereby at 
the end of 15 years from the date of their 
execution and every 10 years thereafter, 
there is to be a readjustment of the con- 
tracts upon demand of either party 
thereto, either upward or downward, as 
may be found justified by competitive 
conditions at distributing points. 

SEC. 5 (b). Any holder of a contract 
for electrical energy not in default is to 
be entitled to renewal upon such terms 
and conditions as may be required under 
the law then existing, unless the property 
of such holder shall be purchased or ac- 
quired. 

SEC. 5 (c). Contracts for the use of 
water and necessary privileges for the 
generation and distribution of electrical 
energy, or for the sale and delivery there- 
of, are to be made with responsible appli- 
cants who are to pay the price fixed by 
the Secretary of the Interior, with a 
view to meeting the revenues required by 
the act. In case of conflicting applica- 
tions the conflicts are to be adjusted as 
provided in the Federal water-power act, 
except that preference is to be given to a 
State for the generation or purchase of 
electrical energy for use in that State, 
and the States of Arizona, California, and 
Nevada are to be given equal opportunity 
as such applicants. 

SEC. 5(d). Any agency receiving con- 
tract for electrical energy equivalent to 
100,000 firm horsepower or more may, 
when deemed feasible by the Secretary of 
the Interior, be required to permit any 
other agency having contracts for less than 
25,000 horsepower to participate in the 
benefits and use of any main transmission 



February, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



19 



line upon payment of a reasonable share 
of the cost. 

SEC. 6. The dam and reservoir are to 
be used, first, for river regulation, im- 
provement of navigation and flood con- 
trol; second, for furnishing water for irri- 
gation and domestic uses and in satis- 
faction of present perfected rights in 
pursuance of Article VIII of the Colorado 
River compact; and third, for power 
Title to the dam, reservoir, plant, and 
incidental works is to remain forever in 
the United States, which shall, until other- 
wise provided by Congress, control, 
manage, and operate the same except as 
otherwise provided. 

The Secretary of the Interior may, in 
his discretion, execute contracts of lease 
of a unit or units of any Government- 
built plant with the right to generate 
electrical energy, or alternatively, may 
make contracts of lease of the use of 
water for the generation of electrical 
energy. In either event, the provisions 
of the act relating to revenue, term, 
renewal, determination of conflicting 
applications, and joint use of transmission 
lines, are to apply. 

Rules and regulations respecting main- 
tenance and operation of works are to be 
prescribed by the Secretary in conformity 
with the Federal water power act so 
far as applicable. 

The Federal Water Power Commission 
is directed not to issue or approve any 
permits or licenses under said water 
power act affecting the Colorado River, 
or any of its tributaries, except the Gila, 
in any of the basin States until the act 
shall become effective. 

SEC. 7. When all payments have 
been made on account of the main canal 
title to the works, except the Laguna 
Dam and the main canal down to and 
including Siphon Drop, may be conveyed 
to the agencies participating, according 
to their respective capital investments. 
Agencies constructing the main canal 
may generate power in connection with 
it and receive revenues under certain 
conditions stated. 

SEC. 8 (a). The Colorado River com- 
pact is to control in the use of all water 
stored, diverted, and distributed. 

SEC. 8 (6). The use of water is to be 
governed also by any compact that may 
be made among the States of Arizona, 
California, and Nevada, or any two of 
them, subsidiary to the Colorado River 
compact. 

SEC. 9. All irrigable public lands are 
to be withdrawn and made subject to 
entry under reclamation law. Preference 
in entry of lands is to be given to soldiers, 
sailors, and marines, to whom also, so far 
as practicable, preference is to be given in 
employment. 



SEC. 10. The contract of October 23, 
1918, between the United States and the 
Imperial Irrigation District is not to be 
regarded as modified by this act. Addi- 
tional contracts may be made for the con- 
struction and operation of the main canal. 

SEC. 11. The Secretary of the Interior 
is authorized to make studies and investi- 
gations of the Parker-Gila Valley reclama- 
tion project, and to submit a report not 
later than December 10, 1931. Appropri- 
ation of necessary funds is authorized. 

SEC. 12. Definitions are given of the 
terminology employed. 

SEC. 13 (a). The Colorado River com- 
pact is approved by Congress subject to 
approval by the State of California and by 
at least five of the basin States. 

SEC. 13 (6). The rights of the United 
States and of all parties claiming under 
the United States, are to be subject to 
the Colorado River compact. 



Economic Problems of 
Reclamation 

A report on economic problems of recla- 
mation, issued recently by the Bureau of 
Reclamation, discusses more clearly and 
definitely than ever before the difficulties 
which confront settlers on the irrigated 
areas of the arid West and the economic 
problems which must be met in any well- 
thought-out plan for rehabilitating the 
agriculture of the South. 

This discussion is embodied in two re- 
ports, the first on Economic Aspects of Cer- 
tain Reclamation Projects, by Dr. Alvin 
Johnson, assistant editor Encyclopedia 
of Social Science, of Columbia University, 
and the second on Planned Colonies of 
Farm Owners, by Dr. E. C. Branson, 
Kenan Professor of Rural Social Econom- 
ics, of the University of North Carolina. 
Both men are eminently fitted, by exten- 
sive training and experience, for the task 
of discussing comprehensively and con- 
structively the intricate problems of set- 
tlement and planned rural development, 
and each has added materially in his re- 
port to our knowledge of these subjects. 

To these reports is added a Foreword 
of Dr. Elwood Mead, Commissioner of the 
Bureau of Reclamation, in which he has 
summarized briefly some of the material, 
social, and economic results of reclama- 
tion as carried out under present laws. 
It is believed these laws can be improved 
so that settlers will be saved hardships, 
earning power increased, and the money 
returned to the reclamation fund much 
sooner than under present conditions. 

Copies of the report may be obtained 
by addressing the Commissioner, Bureau 
of Reclamation, Washington, D. C. 



SEC. 13 (c). All patents, contracts, 
grants, concessions, leases, etc., are to be 
subject to the compact. 

SEC. 13 (d). All conditions and cove- 
nants are to run with the land and be 
deemed for the benefit of and be avail- 
able to the basin States in connection 
with any litigation that may arise. 

SEC. 14. This act is to be regarded as 
supplementary to the reclamation law. 

SEC. 15. The Secretary of the Interior 
is authorized to make investigations and 
reports regarding the use of water in the 
basin States. An appropriation of $250,- 
000 from the Colorado River dam fund is 
authorized for this purpose. 

SEC. 16. A commissioner from each of 
the basin States is authorized to cooperate 
with the Secretary of the Interior in the 
exercise of authority under the provisions 
of sections 4, 5, and 14 of the act. Such 
commissioner is to have access to all 
records of Federal agencies, with the 
privilege of obtaining copies of such 
records. 

SEC. 17. Claims of the United States 
arising out of any contract authorized by 
this act are to have priority over all others, 
secured or unsecured. 

SEC. 18. Nothing contained in this 
act is to be construed as interfering with 
such rights as the States now have, either 
to the water within their borders or to 
adopt laws that may be deemed proper 
regarding appropriation, control, and use 
of water, except as modified by the 
Colorado River compact. 

SEC. 19. The consent of Congress is 
given for the basin States to formulate 
and enter into such further compacts or 
agreements respecting the use of water as 
may be found necessary, subject to a 
representative of the United States 
cooperating in the formulation of such 
compacts, which are not to be binding 
until approved by the legislatures of the 
States and by Congress. 

SEC. 20. Nothing in the act is to be 
construed as a denial or a recognition of 
any right of Mexico to the use of the 
waters of the Colorado River system. 

SEC. 21 The short title of the act 
shall be Boulder Canyon Project Act. 



/"\RLAND oranges are being sold in 
^ the Pacific Northwest where they 
are in demand as a result of previous 
years' established markets for the local 
fruit. The oranges are packed and mar- 
keted by the Orland Orange Growers, a 
local cooperative marketing organization. 



E 1929 wool crop on the Uncom- 
pahgre project is being contracted 

at various points at a price ranging around 

37 cents a pound. 



20 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



February, 1929 



Soil Survey, the Foundation of Successful Reclamation Development 

Address before the American Soil Suroey Association, Washington, D. C., November 21, 1928 
By George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 



'T'HE Department of the Interior, 
through the Bureau of Reclamation, 
has been engaged in reclamation of arid 
lands since 1902. During this period 31 
projects have been constructed. Of these, 
24 projects are being operated and 4 were 
abandoned. At present three new proj- 
ects are under construction. 

EXTENT OF RECLAMATION 

To-day, after a quarter of a centuiy of 
experience in reclamation an inventory 
may be made of achievement and of 
losses or mistakes. Twenty-four proj- 
ects embrace 1,956,910 irrigable acres of 
land, to which a full water supply is 
furnished, and 1,482,950 acres which re- 
ceive supplementary water. The value 
of crops grown on the 2,504,050 acres 
cropped in 1 927 on these projects amounted 
to $133,207,200. This is almost equal 
to the cost of the projects which amounts 
to $175,117,000. During the period these 
projects have been under irrigation the 
aggregate value of crops grown amounts 
to $1,337,428,000. The projects are di- 
vided into 38,428 farms, on which live 
143,227 persons. They include 207 towns 
and cities with a population of 429,683. 
In the towns on the projects are 685 
schools, 683 churches, and 135 banks, 
with total deposits of $137,487,000. 

ENGINEERING WORKS 

Large structures to store or divert 
water on the projects are among the 



most notable in the world. Among 
these is the Arrowrock Dam on the 
Boise project, which is a concrete arch 
type structure 349 feet high and which 
until recently was the highest dam in 
the world. Other large structures are 
the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River 
project in Arizona, the Elephant Butte 
Dam on the Rio Grande project and the 
Pathfinder Dam on the North Platte 
project. In all there are 38 large struc- 
tures which, if failure occurred, would 
endanger life and property. In all this 
period not a single large structure has 
failed. These are monuments to the 
skill and ingenuity of the engineering 
profession. Our Federal reclamation 
works are substantially constructed and 
are as modern as any in the world. 

ECONOMIC FACTORS 

The data heretofore quoted gives 
some idea of social and economic impor- 
tance of this work. Projects of good 
soils and long growing season with other 
favoring conditions have been among 
the most prosperous of any agricultural 
communities, while on others losses 
have occurred of both Government funds 
and settlers' capital. The reason for 
this is that not so much attention was 
given to factors affecting economic feasi- 
bility. These factors include soils, char- 
acter of agriculture which can be devel- 
oped under irrigation, size of and cost of 
developing farms, markets, transporta- 




Ilauling grain, Tule Lake division, Klamath project, Oregon-California 



tion and whether the land can be settled 
with experienced settlers who can create 
the earning power to pay project costs 
and live. 

Engineering details from investigations 
to construction were carefully worked out. 
In the early days of reclamation scientific 
information on economic factors was 
meager. The science of soil technology 
was in its infancy. Not so much was 
known of the relation of suboil to irriga- 
tion or to the tolerance of plants to alkali. 
The behavior of soils under irrigation was 
an open book with little written on its 
pages. However, as early as 1903 the 
reports of the Reclamation Service made 
reference to first and second class land for 
agricultural purposes and lands which were 
regarded as non-agricultural and were 
therefore excluded from projects. 

INCLUSION OF MARGINAL LAND 

The passage of the reclamation act h, 
1902 brought a clamor from the West to 
initiate projects. Not all could be soil 
surveyed before construction began. As 
a result large areas of marginal land were 
included in some of the enterprises. In 
some cases the soils were hard and re- 
fractory, in others the irrigable area in- 
cluded sand with poor water-holding 
capacity and having practically no fer- 
tility. In some of these sandy soils 8 
acre-feet of water an acre were required 
to grow a crop. In such soils the little 
fertility held in it was soon leached out 
by excessive irrigation. Soils which ap- 
peared satisfactory from surface indica- 
tions were often underlaid by strata 
heavily charged with mineral salts. The 
rise in the water table and subsequent 
evaporation changed these lands into 
desolate wastes devoid of vegetation. 
Settlers who attempted to farm soils with 
these disabilities failed, except in rare 
instances. 

INCLUDING POOR SOIL AFFECTS 
SOLVENCY 

The inclusion of poor soils in projects 
may be attributed to several causes, first 
by the lack of a proper soil survey before 
the works are built; second, by including 
all land in the vicinity regardless of fer- 
tility to keep down the acre cost of con- 
struction, and, thirdly, by making the irri- 
gable area fit the available water supply. 

The inclusion of land of low fertility 
seriously affects the solvency of projects 



February, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



21 



and the prosperity of settlers. It causes 
losses to both the development agency 
and the settlers. An illustration will be 
given. One privately financed project in- 
cludes 32,000 acres. One-half of it is of 
good soil and the other half is unsuited 
to anything but pasture. The estimates 
showed that water could be provided for 
16,000 acres at $60 an acre. By doubling 
the size of the project the cost was re- 
duced to $40 an acre. The promoters 
doubled it in size by reason of the lower 
acre cost. The landowners voted the 
bond issue because they believed they 
could sell their land after the works were 
constructed. The water supply and canals 
were provided for 32,000 acres. Now, 
more than 10 years after the project was 
built, not a single acre of the poor land is 
irrigated. The main canal and laterals 
serving the good land pass through the 
poor land. The poor land has defaulted 
in its irrigation taxes, and through the op- 
eration of a joint liability obligation the 
good land is called upon to pay $80 an 
acre. Furthermore, the good land must 
pay the operating expenses for canals 
which pass through the poor land. The 
annual operation and maintenance charges 
are probably 50 per cent more than they 
would be if the works had been built for 
16,000 acres which included all the good 
land. If a careful soil survey had been 
made before the project was constructed 
and heed given to the conclusions reached, 
the result would have been a successful 
district of moderate cost. 

EFFECT ON FEDERAL PROJECTS 

Little was heard of poor soil on Federal 
projects until full construction charges 
were required under the law. These 
became due about the time that the 
slump in agriculture occurred following 
the war. This combination of difficulties 
brought forth requests for relief from 
water users on a large number of projects. 

THE FACT FINDERS 

To deal with this situation, Hon. 
Hubert Work, then Secretary of the 
Interior, appointed a committee of special 
advisers on reclamation. These included 
six experts familiar with the economics of 
irrigation. Among their recommenda- 
tions, they advised that new projects or 
extensions of existing projects should be 
authorized only after full information has 
been secured concerning the water supply, 
engineering features, soils, crops, trans- 
portation, markets, land prices, probable 
acre cost of development and other facts 
on which the success of the project must 
depend. Regarding old projects, they 
recommended that a survey of construc- 
tion cost and classification of soils be 



made by a competent commission and 
that it be ascertained if the present con- 
struction cost per acre is more than some 
or all of the classes of land within a project 
can bear, a fair and equitable adjustment 
be made which will fix the charge per 
acre at a sum the land can reasonably 
bear. In this connection they recom- 
mended that the Secretary of the Interior 
secure information upon which project 
lands may be classified with respect to 
their power under a proper agricultural 
program of supporting the farmer and 
his family and of repaying the construc- 
tion cost of the project. The survey, 
they stated, should be in sufficient detail 
to enable the grouping of the farm units 
under each project into divisions or zones, 
each of approximately equal productive 
power. All lands which do not possess a 
productive power sufficient to support the 
farmer's family and to repay construction 
costs should be grouped in one class and 
all lands which are just coming into 
agricultural production and not yet 
ready to begin repayment should be 
grouped in another class. 

These recommendations resulted in the 
passage of what is commonly known as 
the fact finders act of December 5, 1924, 
which authorized the carrying out of the 
comprehensive surveys recommended by 
the fact finders. 

THE BOARD OF SURVEY AND 
ADJUSTMENTS 

A board of survey and adjustments 
was subsequently appointed to make 
these investigations. This meant that 
all of the lands on 19 reclamation projects 
were to be classified in accordance with 
their productive power under irrigation. 
The survey was intended to determine 



for the project (a) the area of perma- 
nently or temporarily unproductive land 
and (6) the areas of land capable of sup- 
porting a family but of different produc- 
tive power. The classification of pro- 
ductive lands was divided into four classes, 
the best lands as No. 1 and the poorest as 
No. 4, and the unproductive lands were 
grouped into two classes, those tempo- 
rarily unproductive as No. 5 and those 
permanently unproductive as No. 6. 

It was impossible to secure the services 
of a number of soil technologists to make 
these surveys and it was, therefore, de- 
cided that the land classifications be made 
by the farmers on the projects under 
competent supervision. The farmers se- 
lected were those who had had long 
practical experience with the soils in their 
locality, and they were instructed to go 
over each farm in detail and classify the 
land thereon in accordance with the pro- 
gram laid down by the board of survey 
and adjustments. The instructions to 
these land classifiers included the defini- 
tions of the various classes of land, as 
follows: 

Class 1. Lands that with sufficient 
water and under approved systems of 
tillage, produce the best crops on the 
project, and that have such even topog- 
raphy that they may be easily irrigated, 
with a minimum of leveling and labor 
under the approved system of irrigation 
practice for the project. These are the 
best lands on the project of good soil 
and good topography. 

Class 2. Lands of the same productive 
power as those in class 1, but with a 
topography so uneven as to required more 
expense and more labor in the tillage and 
irrigation of the fields. Such lands be- 
cause of their topographic difficulties are 
generally less capable of sustaining a 
completely diversified kind of agriculture. 
These are usually good lands of poor 
topography. 




Harvesting sugar beets on the Belle Fourche project, South Dakota 



22 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



February, 1929 



Class S. Lauds of lower fertility or 
productive power, even with ample water 
and under good systems of husbandry, 
than those of the above classes. These 
lands may have even topography, there- 
fore easily irrigated, but are incapable of 
producing the yields of the lands under 
classes 1 and 2. The cause of this in- 
fertility may be inherent in the soil or 
may be due to alkali, gumbo, blow sand, 
shale, shallow or porous soil, or other 
factors characteristic of the project. 
These are poor lands, often of good 
topography. 

Class 4. Lands of poorer productivity 
than those of class 3, or of the same grade 
as class 3, but with such unfavorable 
topography as to increase the expense of 
cultivation and irrigation and to decrease 
the crop yield. These are poor lands of 
poor topography, often with excessive 
slopes. 

Class 5. Lands that are not at present 
susceptible of agricultural use, but which 
may gradually by tillage and under 
changing conditions be made sufficiently 
productive to justify cropping. Alkali 
and water-logged lands that may be im- 
proved by drainage; excessively heavy 
soils that may be improved by the in- 
corporation of organic matter or indirect 
fertilizers; light, sandy soils that may be 
firmed by plant roots; steep soils that may 
be leveled, and other such soils, should be 
included in this class. 

Class 6. Lands that appear to be per- 
manently nonagricultural under the prac- 
tices of irrigation farming. 

Attached to each board of survey and 
adjustments was a soil technologist who 
had had long experience with western 
soils under irrigation. Mr. Macey H. 
Laphan, western soil inspector for the 
Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, was 
adviser to the board dealing with the 
projects in the southern half of the Western 
States, and Mr. A. T. Strahorn, soil 
surveyor of the same bureau, was adviser 
to the northern board. They made 
inspections of the work of the local classi- 
fiers and suggested changes. These 
classifications were then adopted by the 
board of survey and adjustments and 
enacted into law by the passage of the 
adjustment act of May 25, 1926. This 
act authorized the suspension of con- 
struction charges on 207,342 acres of 
temporarily unproductive land and elimi- 
nated from projects 174,448 acres of 
permanently unproductive lands. In 
other words, Congress authorized the 
definite write-off with respect to the 
exclusion of poor soils in projects of 
$9,343,038 and the suspension of charges 
on lands having a construction debt on 
this account of $12,593,329. 

SOIL SURVEYS ON PROPOSED OR NEW 
PROJECTS 

The recommendations of the fact 
finders are now followed in investigating 
proposed projects. The lands are soil 
surveyed and classified in advance of 
construction in order that future elimi- 



nations will not be necessary and to 
protect the investment of settlers so 
that they will not be placed on lands 
which will not make a comfortable 
living and pay charges. 

In this connection, all lands in proposed 
or new projects are classed in class 1 (good 
irrigable land) ; class 2 (fair irrigable land) ; 
all other lands are eliminated. Class 1 
lands are soils of the project best suited 
to the type of agriculture to which the 
region is adapted; topography, smooth 
with slope less than 6 per cent and with 
reasonably large-sized areas sloping in the 
same plane ; drainage conditions favorable, 
both present and prospective. Class 2 
soil includes lands of relatively less value 
for irrigation farming, due to poorer soil, 
topography or drainage or a combination 
of these conditions. This includes slopes 
up to 12 per cent. Attention is given in 
these surveys to their possible behavior 
under irrigation. Hard lands that are 
only slowly permeable to water are, in the 
absence of modifying conditions, placed in 
the nonirrigation classes, since methods 
for the reclaiming of these lands have not 
been fully developed. Even areas of good 
soil where seepage is likely to develop are 
placed in Class 2. All lands are thrown 
out which have poor soil, rough or steep 
topography, or difficult drainage condi- 
tions. 

SOIL SURVEYS REQUIRED FOR DRAINAGE 

There are some decided differences in 
the principles which govern the design of 
drainage systems for irrigation projects as 
compared with drainage in the humid 
regions. Drainage for the humid region 
is required largely to relieve land of water 
which enters the soil from the surface. 
Rarely is water-logging caused by seepage 
through the subsoil from higher areas. 

Water logging in the arid region is 
caused by the flow of underground water 
in an upward direction. These under- 
ground waters are developed from seepage 
from canals and the subsurface losses from 
irrigation water applied to the land. The 
water flows underground down the slope 
until forced to the surface by a dense 
subsoil which acts as an obstruction to 
the flow. As a result the underground 
reservoir becomes filled and the ground 
water table rises. Under such conditions 
shallow drainage ditches are not effective. 
The average depth of drains designed at 
present is about 9 feet. Design of drains 
depends on a knowledge of the source 
and amount of underground water. This 
is dependent on slope of land and nature 
of soil and subsoil. 

Drainage on Federal projects began in 
1912. At present we are constructing 
drains through many combinations of 
subsoil from coarse gravel to gumbo. The 



results of these drains after construction 
can be definitely determined. Capil- 
larity, percolation, and the movement of 
water through the soil can also be deter- 
mined in the laboratory. There still 
remains to be done the correlation of 
results of laboratory experiments with 
results of drainage in the field. This 
information used in connection with soil 
surveys will greatly aid in coming to con- 
clusions regarding the inclusion or exclu- 
sion of certain soils in projects. 

DOUBTFUL SOILS ARE EXCLUDED 

Where there is doubt concerning areas 
of soil, they are excluded as it is not de- 
sirable for the Government to expend its 
money in construction of canals for any 
land which may not, under ordinary con- 
ditions, produce satisfactory results. Fur- 
thermore, such areas often can be re- 
claimed later when the water duty for the 
project is increased through better meth- 
ods of farming and irrigation with very 
small additional cost. In this way, the 
soils of potential value are not condemned 
forever, but are not undertaken for 
reclamation until more is known of their 
productiveness under irrigation and their 
drainage possibilities. 

COOPERATION BY THE BUREAU OF 
CHEMISTRY AND SOILS 

Throughout this period of more than 
25 years, we have had the whole-hearted 
and complete cooperation of the Bureau 
of Chemistry and Soils. During that 
time they have aided us in making exami- 
nations of the soil in 22 States. They have 
examined the soils on as many as six 
potential or constructed projects in one 
State. I have not the figures on the area 
dealt with but it is in excess of 5,000,000 
acres. Their services have played no 
little part in the success that has been 
achieved. We have found that soil sur- 
veys carefully carried out are the founda- 
tion of successful reclamation develop- 
ment. Without good soil, but with other 
economic conditions favorable, settlers 
face a long and difficult struggle. Now_ 
soil surveys are carried along at the same 
time that engineering investigations are 
being made and the feasibility of projects 
rests as much on the conclusions made by 
these technologists as upon the sufficiency 
of the water supply or the cost of pro- 
viding a water right. 

'T'HE Currie Canning factory at Delta, 
Uncompahgre project, canned and 
shipped during the season of 1928 about 
70 carloads of fruit and vegetables, hav- 
ing a total value of $100,000. The 
output included 10 cars of cherries, 15 of 
canned beets, 2 of apricots, and 15 of 
string beans. 



February, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



23 



Reclamation Conference at Denver, Colo. 

March 13-15, 1929 



A CONFERENCE of superintend- 
^^ ents, construction engineers, district 
counsel, and others, led by Dr. Elwood 
Mead, Commissioner of Reclamation, and 
including employees from the Washington 
and Denver offices of the Bureau of 
Reclamation, will be held at the Denver 
office beginning at 9 a. m. March 13, 1929, 
and closing in the afternoon of March 15. 
The object of the conference is to dis- 
cuss the engineering, economic, and social 
questions that require decisions on the 
leading projects of the bureau. The 
tentative program follows: 

TENTATIVE PROGRAM 

FIRST DAT, MARCH 13, 1929 

9 a. m. Registration of members of conference. 

9.30 to 11 a. m. Committee meetings and conferences: 

1. Those having problems involving administra- 
tion or policy, confer with Doctor Mead and 
Mr. Dent. 

2. Those having problems involving engineering 
and construction, confer with Messrs. Walter, 
Harper, and Savage. 

3. Those having problems of an economic nature, 
confer with Messrs. Kreutzer and Hayden. 

4. Those having problems of accounting or clerical 
work, confer with Messrs. Kubaeh and Smith. 

5. Those having legal problems, confer with 
Messrs. Offutt, Stoutemyer, Alexander, Cofley, 
Roddis, Burke, and Devries. 

6. Those having problems of purchasing, personnel, 
or other matters, confer with those in the Denver 
office in charge of these branches of the work. 

11.10 a. m. General meeting at conference hall: 

1. Introductory address Present day aspects of 
Federal reclamation. Dr. Elwood Mead. 

CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE 
R. F. WALTER, chief engineer, chairman 

2. Rfsumg of work in progress during fiscal year 
1929 and proposed for fiscal year 1930. R. F. Walter. 

12.30 p. m. Adjourn for lunch. 

2 p. m. Conference reconvenes at hall. 

1. Problems in handling large construction work 
by contract. F. A. Banks. 

2. Power development on Government projects- 
Present practice and proposed new policies. L. N. 
McClellan. 

3. Drainage work. Comparative results by con- 
tract and by Government forces. J. R. lakisch. 

4. Standard specifications for classification of exca- 
vation. S. O. Harper. 

5. Need for better concrete and how to obtain it. 
B. W. Steele. 

6. Maintenance and care of reservoir outlet works 
and related structures. C. M. Day. 

7. Open discussion. 

SECOND DAT, MARCH 14, 1929 

9 to 11 a. m. Committee meetings and conferences: 

1. Those having problems involving administra- 
tion or policy, confer with Doctor Mead and Mr. 
Walter. 

2. Conference of district counsel, with Mr. Dent. 

3. Those having problems of an economic nature, 
confer with Messrs. Kreutzer and Hayden. 

4. Those having problems of accounting or clerical 
work, confer with Messrs. Kubach and Smith. 



5. Those having problems of purchasing, personnel, 
or other matters, confer with those in the Denver 
office in charge of these branches of the work. 
11.10 a. m. General meeting at conference hall: 

LEGAL AND FINANCIAL 
P. W. DENT, assistant commissioner, chairman 

1. Legislation enacted during seventieth Congress. 
P. W. Dent. 

2. Legal relations with water users, organizations 
on transferred projects. B. E. Stoutemyer. 

3. Accounting relations with water users, organiza- 
tions on transferred projects. W. F. Kubach. 

12.30 p. m. Adjourn for lunch. 

2 p. m. Conference reconvenes at hall. 

1. Standard method of cost keeping for construc- 
tion work handled by contract. L. R. Smith. 

2. Problems in connection with town sites on 
Government projects. E. B. Debler. 

3. Procedure in connection with delays in com- 
pletion of contracts for construction and supplies; 
orders for extras and changes. Armand Offutt. 

4. Open discussion. 

THIRD DAY, MARCH 15, 1929 

9 to 11 a. m. Committee meetings and conferences: 

1. Those having problems involving administra- 
tion or policy, confer with Doctor Mead and Mr. 
Dent. 

2. Conference of construction engineers with Messrs. 
Walter, Harper, and Savage. 

3. Conference of superintendents of Lower Yellow- 
stone, Milk River, Belle Fourche, Orland, Uncom- 
pahgre and Grand Valley projects, with Messrs. 
Kreutzer and Hayden. 

4. Those having problems of accounting or clerical 
work, confer with Messrs. Kubach and Smith. 

5. Those having legal problems, confer with Messrs. 
Offutt, Stoutemyer, Alexander, Coffey, Roddis, 
Burke, and Devries. 



6. Those having problems of purchasing, personnel 
or other matters, confer with those in the Denver 
office in charge of these branches of the work. 
11.10 a. m. General meeting at conference hall: 

SETTLEMENT AND FARM DEVELOPMENT 

GEORGE C. KREUTZER, Director of Reclamation Eco- 
nomics, Chairman 

Introductory by Doctor Mead. 

1. Settlement problems of Owyhee, Vale, and 
Kittitas projects. G. C. Kreutzer. 

2. Classification and appraisal of land on new 
projects. W. W. Johnston. 

12 30 p. m. Adjourn for lunch. 

2 p. m. Conference reconvenes at hall: 

1. Crop census problems. B. E. Hayden. 

2. Settlement results and recommendations for 
future 

(a) On Belle Fourche project. F. C. Young- 

blutt. 
(6) On lower Yellowstone project. H. A. 

Parker, 
(c) On Orland project. R. C. E. Weber. 

3. Proposed plan for rehabilitation of the Stanfleld 
district. B. E. Stoutemyer. 

4. Future disposition of class 5 and^class 6 lands. 
E. E. Rodrtis. 

5. Oper discussion. 



Prosperity follows the dairy cow, and 
prosperity to the farmer means greater 
educational advantages, more pleasant 
and agreeable community life, more com- 
forts and conveniences, better homes and 
better churches, and more money in the 
bank. 




Apparatus used in placing concrete canal lining, Kittitas Main Canal, Kittitas division, Yakima project, 

Washington 



24 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



February, 1929 






By Mae A. Schnurr 
Secretary to the Commissioner 



JHP 




Denmark An Agricultural Example 



T WAS my privilege, during the past 
summer, to visit Denmark, among 
ther countries, with a group of in- 
structors, farmers, and business men of 
the South, and it is thought the following 
might be of interest to our readers: 

Denmark's population of 3,475,000 is 
principally engaged in agriculture and 
related occupations, 57 per cent being in 
the rural districts. 

Ninety-three per cent of Denmark's 
farms are operated by owners. Land is 
divided into small holdings and land lying 
idle is practically unknown. Seventy- 
seven per cent is under cultivation and 
the balance represents mainly forestation 
projects. 

Copenhagen, established as the capital 
of Denmark in 1443 is attractive and in- 
teresting. Its streets are cobbled and 
the popular means of transportation is the 
bicycle there is a steady stream of them. 

Denmark's farms are well ordered and 
the homes, with their thatched roofs on 
stone or frame buildings, are a delight to 
the eye. 

Windmills are everywhere, and contrary 
to the common belief that these are used 
primarily for domestic purposes, I learned 
that they are used almost exclusively to 
pump water away from the farm land. 







Electric and gasoline power have largely 
taken the place of the windmill, as they 
are more effective, and may be responsible 
for the eventual disappearance of the 
picturesque windmill. 

Denmark is a combination of rolling and 
flat country. Open drains wind their 
paths through the farm land. 

The dairy industry ranks first and the 
swine industry second in importance in 
point of agricultural exports. 







1 



Ni .11 innn 

iBiiii irmnntio 



Petersen home; my " Home, Sweet Home " in Denmark 



The trade-mark "Lur Brand Danish 
Butter" stands for quality and is guarded 
jealously. The word "Lur" is the old 
Danish name for war trumpets and the 
trade-mark shows two pairs of war 
trumpets interwoven. 

Denmark has a special breed of cow. It 
is all brown and called "Koe." 

At Odder, a small village in northern 
Denmark, a first-hand knowledge was 
obtained of the operations of the farm, the 
cooperative movement, the women's place 
in this scheme of things, the education of 
the children, and the training of boys on 
the farm. 

I entered the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Vlademar Petersen as their guest. The 
latter spent several years in the United 
States and could speak English. He is 
38 years old and has been married about 
two years. 

Mr. Petersen's story, as related to me, 
is like that of many other Danes. He 
was born in Denmark; all his forefathers 
were Danes and all owned their farms. 
As he and his brothers were growing 
up they were assigned to neighboring 
farms as stable boys and to help with the 
regular chores around the farm home. 
For this they received room and board 
and a small salary. 

Mr. Petersen had a young boy of school 
age working for him. He had his duties 
to perform before and after school hours. 
There was a very apparent affection for 
this boy and an interest in his welfare. 
He lived on the Petersen farm. His home 
was not a very great distance and he was 
permitted to make frequent visits. 

The Petersens own 10 acres. Their 
house, shown in the accompanying illus- 
tration, is a real home, typically Danish, 
the main portion containing living room 
and dining room, on one side, then center 
hall separating these from bedrooms, 
kitchen and laundry on the other side. 
It is 65 years old. Wings, added on each 
end of the house, constructed of brick, 
are 35 years old. One is a stable and the 
other a granary and tool house. 

The farm is worked with horses, of 
which there are two. The farm imple- 



February, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



25 




and Associate Editor 
New Reclamation Era 





ments were in good condition and the 
other livestock consisted of 5 milch cows, 
2 calves, 1 heifer, 4 sows, 10 pigs, and 
50 chickens. 

Some garden truck was raised for their 
own use. The money products handled 
through their cooperative association 
were rrnlk, butter, cheese, and eggs. Mr. 
Petersen raised beets for the cows and 
hogs, and barley, oats, and wheat as 
money crops. 

Members of the cooperative organiza- 
tion in Denmark are required to deliver 
eggs for market to the association. All 
eggs are stamped so that responsibility 
for poor quality can be placed where it 
belongs. Rules on frequency of collec- 
tion, manner of keeping the eggs, fre- 
quency of delivery, and other needs, 
touching directly on the matter of quality 
of the eggs, are closely adhered to and 
are responsible for the success with which 
the association meets in marketing the 
product. Members agree to pay a fine 
if bad eggs are delivered. 

Visits were made to the dairies, the 
bottling works, the stables containing blue 
ribbon work and riding horses and cows; 
also the mortgage-lifters (hogs) came in 
for their share of attention. 

TEACHING DENMARK'S YOUTH 

We met with leaders in school work, 
cooperative movements, administrative 
officials, and civic workers. They seemed 
pleased that we came over and anxious 
to afford us every opportunity to see 
what they are doing. 

The Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs 
and the Danish Statistical Department 
publish information on their school system 
that will bear reprinting for the informa- 
tion of the readers of this section. This 
is where we thought we would find the 
secret of just how Denmark's youth is 
kept on the land. While interest in 
agriculture was evidenced by heavy 
enrollment in the agricultural schools, the 
secret was not there. Love of the land 
was found inborn in the Dane. The com- 
pulsory school age is from 7 to 14. 

The private schools are for the most 
part supported by the school fees of the 
parents, although they also receive large 
grants from the state and the municipali- 



ties; but in the whole of the municipal 
popular school, education is free, and in 
the state and municipal examination 
schools, only those parents who have 
more than a certain average income pay 
for the education of their children. 

As it will appear from the above, edu- 
cation involves heavy outlay for the 
state and the municipalities. 

The University of Copenhagen, founded 
in 1479, is the only university in Den- 
mark. It contains five faculties: The- 
ology, law and economics, medicine, arts, 
and science (including mathematics). 
The university is a state institution, but 
self-governing, and, to a great extent, 
self-supporting, thanks to large endow- 
ments of bygone ages. 

The number of students is about 4,400 
including about 800 women, while the 
number of professors and instructors is 
130. 

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES 

The veterinary department was founded 
in 1775, and was, in 1858, extended into 
the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural 
College, now including the following 
departments: Veterinary, science, agri- 
culture, forestry, surveying, horticulture, 
and dairying. 

POPULAR ADULT EDUCATION 

A special and prominent feature in 
Danish popular adult education is the 
people's high school (Folkehojskolen), 
as an institution of the greatest education- 
al and cultural importance, which is 
almost exclusively frequented by the 
rural population. 

Originating from the conceptions of 
N. F. S. Grundtvig, bishop, historian, and 
teacher, the first school was established in 
1844, and in a short time a great number 
came into existence, all in the country 
districts. Their educational aim is, to 
quote Grundtvig, to give clear notions of 
the civic community and the conditions of 
its welfare, an appreciation of the national 
character, and the ability to express one's 
thoughts with ease and vigor, freedom 
and propriety. 

The high schools are either people's 
high schools proper or agricultural 
colleges at which both agricultural and 



subjects of a more general nature are 
taught. In 1926 there were 81 high 
schools and agricultural colleges, with a 
total of 9,700 students. 

Special attention may be drawn to the 
International High School at Elsinore; 
one of its chief objects is to bridge the 
gulf of estrangement and suspicion 
which exists among the nations of the 
world. Foreigners here constitute a con- 
siderable proportion of the students. 

The high educational and cultural 
standard prevailing in Denmark, and 
also to some extent its remarkable 
success in cooperative farming, is as- 
cribed to the influence of the people's 
high schools, and foreigners in large 
numbers have made this type of education 
a subject of interested and detailed 
study. 

For young men and women above 
school age, there are, both in the towns 
and in the country, 167 continuation 
schools with about 10,000 pupils, in which 
lessons are given during the daytime, and 
813 night schools with a total of about 
18,000 pupils. Most schools of these two 
kinds are municipal. 

FACILITIES FOR FOREIGN 
STUDENTS 

The study of Danish conditions in 
general, and even more so that of special 
Danish institutions, draws a good many 
foreigners to Denmark. For post-gradu- 
ate study and research Denmark offers 
good opportunities. 

English, German, and French, espe- 
cially the first two languages, are widely 
spoken and understood in Denmark. 
The friendliness of the Danes is certainly 
contagious. To know them is to like 
them. 

The women in the rural districts prefer 
to limit their interests to the home. As a 
result there is practically no club or 
political activity on their part. Home- 
making is stressed in the training of the 
growing girls of the Scandinavian coun- 
tries. 

A country can be no better than its 
homes. Happiness, contentment, and 
comfort in the homes of a nation are 
bound to be reflected in that country as a 
whole. 



26 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



February, 192 



American Falls Dam, Minidoka Project, Idaho 

By loan E. Houk, Research Engineer, Dentter Office, Bureau of Reclamation 



nPHE American Falls dam, located on the 
* Snake River near the city of Ameri- 
can Falls, Idaho, was built for the purpose 
of supplying additional storage for irriga- 
tion in the Snake River Valley. It is 
a concrete gravity structure, with rolled 
earth-fill embankments at the ends, hav- 
ing a total length of approximately 1 
mile, and a maximum height of 87 feet. 
The concrete sections of the dam are 
surmounted by a concrete highway bridge, 
built to replace the old timber bridge 
which crossed the river just above the 
dam and which was put out of service as 
soon as storage began. The dam was 
built by the Utah Construction Co. of 
Ogden, Utah, under a contract awarded 
January 23, 1925; and the bridge was 
built by the Lynch-Cannon Engineering 
Co. of Salt Lake City, Utah, under a 
separate contract awarded July 31, 1926. 
Construction operations were started in 
February, 1925, under the supervision of 
F. A. Banks, construction engineer of the 
Bureau of Reclamation, and the work was 
completed in September, 1927. Storage 
of water was begun in May, 1926, and 
the reservoir was filled for the first time 
in June, 1927. 

The reservoir created by the construc- 
tion of the dam is 25 miles long, 12 miles 
wide, has an average depth of 40 feet, a 
total area of 56,055 acres, and a total 
capacity of 1,700,000 acre-feet. It is 
filled by storing unused flood run-off and 
winter flow heretofore used by the Idaho 
Power Co., the right to store the latter 
being acquired by agreement with the 
power company. Stored water is used 
in augmenting the supply of numerous 
existing canals serving a total area of 
approximately 600,000 acres, located 
both above and below the reservoir, the 
lands above the reservoir being benefited 
through the exchange of American Falls 
storage for Jackson Lake storage. The 
American Falls storage will also supply 
approximately 170,000 acres of irrigable 
land included in the proposed gravity 
extension of the Minidoka project, also 
known as the Gooding project; in the 
proposed north side pumping extension 
of the Minidoka project; and in certain 
minor developments to be made by private 
enterprises. 

The original plans for the construction 
of the dam contemplated a normal reser- 
voir water surface elevation of 4,341.3 
feet above mean sea level, with a corre- 
sponding reservoir capacity of 1,040,000 
acre-feet and an average storage cost of 
$7 per acre-foot. Half of the storage 
was to be reserved, and paid for, by the 



United States; the remaining half to be 
contracted for, and paid for in cash, prior 
to the advertisement for bids, by irriga- 
tion districts, companies, and individuals 
desiring an additional water supply. 
However, alternative plans, providing for 
a normal reservoir level of 4,354.5 and a 
total storage capacity of 1,700,000 acre- 
feet, were included in the advertisement, 
together with a provision permitting the 
Government to adopt the plans for the 
higher dam any time before the completion 
of the river section to an elevation of 4,300. 
Contracts with the irrigation companies 
provided for adjustments of cost on a 
uniform basis, or allotments of additional 
storage, if desired, in case the alternative 
plans were adopted. In February, 1926, 
as additional storage subscribed for was 
sufficient to make up the $950,000 differ- 
ence in cost between the two plans, the 
contractor was notified to proceed with 
the construction of the high dam. 

The construction of the American Falls 
dam involved a number of complicated 
right-of-way problems. It was necessary 
to move about three-fourths of the city 
of American Falls, including all of the 
business district; to relocate 2 miles of 
the main line of the Oregon Short Line 
Railroad, its depot, industrial tracks, and 
facilities; to relocate several miles of high- 
way and construct new highway bridges; 
to acquire about 60,000 acres of rural 
lands, about half of which was located in 
the Fort Hall Indian Reservation and 
occupied by Indians; and to purchase a 
large part of the American Falls property 
of the Idaho Power Co., including more 
than a hundred town lots, several thousand 
acres of farm land, two small power plants, 
and a large part of their water-power 
rights. In fact the total cost of the right 
of way exceeded the cost of the dam by 
about 61 per cent. 

An advisory board, selected by the 
various organizations whi^h contracted 
for storage, was organized in the fall of 
1920 for the purpose of assisting the rep- 
resentatives of the Bureau of Reclama- 
tion in outlining the work and in deciding 
various matters of policy. The board 
proved to be of great assistance in solving 
the complicated right-of-way problems. 
R. E. Shepherd, president of the American 
Falls Reservoir District, was chairman of 
the advisory board for a number of years. 
The American Falls Reservoir District 
contracted for a large part of the storage 
in the new reservoir and paid the Secre- 
tary of the Interior $1,989,316 as their 
share of the cost in the fall of 1924, one 
of the checks presented being drawn in 



the amount of $1,274,991 and being the 
largest ever paid the Government for 
such an enterprise. 

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS 

Preliminary investigations looking to- 
ward the construction of a reservoir at 
American Falls were begun many years 
prior to the beginning of work by the 
Bureau of Reclamation, but the project 
was found to be too large and complicated 
to be developed by private enterprise. 
The most conspicuous of the early efforts 
was that of interests connected with the 
development of the Twin Falls canals. 
These interests made a complete topo- 
graphic survey and proposed tentative 
plans. 

Active preliminary work was begun by 
the Bureau of Reclamation in the summer 
of 1918 when a field party began taking 
topography of the damsite and the town. 
From that time on the investigations- 
were continued more or less spasmodically. 
Further topographic surveys, right-of- 
way surveys, measurements of ground 
water levels, studies of water supply, 
foundation drilling, studies of dam design, 
and estimates of cost were carried on as 
time permitted and as money for the 
investigations became available. 

On January 15, 1920, W. O. Crosby, 
geologist, made a detailed report on the 
geology of the dam site and reservoir site. 
The letter of transmittal accompany- 
ing his report stated, " I am glad to 
be able to report that this project, al- 
though not free from geologic defects and 
complexities, is, in my opinion, entirely 
and economically feasible. In other words, 
a tight and stable dam on the proposed 
site and a reasonably tight reservoir 
appear to be safe predictions." He re- 
ported that an obvious fault, trending in 
a west-northwest direction, crossed the 
damsite near the west side of the river, 
but that it need not be regarded as a 
serious menace to the stability or tight- 
ness of the dam. 

Beginning in October, 1920, a thorough 
exploration of the foundation was made 
with well-drilling outfits, soil augers, and 
by digging test pits. Three rows of holes 
spaced about 300 feet apart each way 
formed the basis of the drilling plan. 
These were supplemented by additional 
holes and test pits as needed to develop 
special features of the formation. The 
foundation was found to consist of excel- 
lent basalt rock extending to a depth of 
about 60 feet in the river section. 

In January, 1924, the Denver office of 
the Bureau of Reclamation completed an 



February, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



27 




elaborate study of the cost of building 
different types of dams at the American 
Falls site. The profile along the site was 
divided into six parts from west to east, 
designated as the right embankment sec- 
tion, right penstock section, spillway sec- 
tion, left penstock section, left abutment 
section, and left embankment section. 
For the right and left embankment sec- 
tions only earth-fill dams were considered; 
but for the other sections alternative 
plans and estimates were prepared for 
concrete gravity dams, multiple arch 
dams, Ambursen dams, and Turner dams. 
Plans and estimates were also prepared 
for an earth dam in the left abutment 
section, for the use of either radial or 
drum gates in the spillway section; for 
different heights of dam, and for the 
initial construction of comparatively low 
dams with ultimate developments to take 
care of future increased demand on stor- 
age. Total costs were compiled for 
eighteen different combinations of designs 
in the different sections and for three 
different plans of development, involving a 
total of a hundred and sixty-two separate 
estimates of cost of the entire dam. 

The results of these studies indicated 
that on the basis of radial gate installations 
the combination of a concrete gravity 
dam in the spillway and penstock sections 
with an earth dam in the left abutment 
and embankment sections would be least 
expensive in all cases but one, the excep- 
tion being the designs for a full initial 
development of 3,000,000 acre feet. The 
studies also indicated that for the plan 
finally adopted the increase in cost due 
to the selection of a concrete gravity dam 
for the left abutment section, instead of 
an earth dam, would amount to approxi- 
mately $237,000. 

On August 2, 1924, a board of engi- 
neers, consisting of R. E. Shepherd, W. G. 
Swendsen, Louis C. Hill, A. J. Wiley, 
F. A. Banks, J. L. Savage and F. T. 
Crowe, recommended that the concrete 
gravity type of dam be adopted for all 
but the embankment sections. This 
recommendation was made because of 
the uncertainty regarding the available 
supply of suitable material for an earth 
dam, the greater safety of the concrete 
design as regards reservoir wave action, 
the lower maintenance expense required 



American Falls dam on the Snake River, Idaho 

for the concrete type, and the proximity 
of the dam to the city of American Falls, 
the main east and west highway, and the 
main line of the Oregon Short Line Rail- 
road. 

DESIGN OF DAM 

The right embankment section is 
approximately 504 feet long, the right 
penstock section 108 feet long, the spill- 
way section 540 feet long, the left pen- 
stock section 72 feet long, the left abut- 
ment section 2,376 feet long, and the left 
embankment section approximately 1,600 
feet long, giving a total length of dam of 
approximately 5,200 feet. Reinforced 
concrete, counterforted, retaining walls 
separate the earth embankment sections 
from the concrete gravity left abutment 
and right penstock sections, the right 
embankment wall having a maximum 
height of 82 feet and a total length of 
nearly 400 feet. It was not considered 
advisable to extend the concrete gravity 
section to the right of the river channel 
because of the fault in the rock formations 
near the west bank of the river. 

The spillway section is provided with 
15 radial gates, each 33 feet long and 11 
feet 4 inches high, raising the elevation of 
the crest from 4,343.2 feet to 4,354.5 feet 
when the gates are closed and providing 
a total spillway discharge of approxi- 
mately 60,000 second feet when open. 
Three 5-foot by 5-foot hydraulically 
operated slide gates are located at the 
level of the river bed near the east end 
of the spillway section and 17 similar 
gates are located in the left abutment 
section just beyond the left penstock 
section. These gates will discharge 
approximately 20,000 second feet when 
fully open under full reservoir head. Six 
15-foot circular penstocks, for future 
power developments, were installed in 
the penstock sections, two being placed 
in the left penstock section and four in 
the right penstock section. 

The penstock and left abutment sec- 
tions have a freeboard of 5 feet above the 
normal water surface elevation of 4,354.5; 
the earth embankment sections have a 
freeboard of 12 feet. The parapet on the 
embankment and left abutment sections 
constitutes an additional freeboard of 4 
feet. A drainage gallery, 5 feet wide and 



7 feet high, traverses the entire length of 
the concrete sections of the dam and pro- 
vides access to the machinery for operat- 
ing the slide gates; a radial gate gallery 
at a higher elevation traverses the length 
of the spillway section and provides 
access to the radial gate operating 
machinery. Transverse galleries connect 
the longitudinal galleries with convenient 
adits at the downstream face of the dam 
and with steps leading up the downstream 
face to the tops of the penstock sections. 
A 12-inch cast iron water main, to supply 
the city of American Falls, was carried 
across the river through the drainage 
gallery. 

The embankment sections are provided 
with a reinforced concrete core wall 
founded on sound rock. The upstream 
face of the earth sections was built on a 
slope of 3 to 1 and was paved with hand- 
laid rock placed on a 12-inch layer of 
gravel. The downstream face was built 
on a slope of 2 to 1, was provided with 
a thickness of dumped rock, and was 
also paved with handlaid rock. The 
tops of the embankments were provided 
with a 24-foot roadway, surfaced with 
18 inches of gravel; the highway bridge 
over the concrete sections of the dam 
was provided with an 18-foot roadway, 
paved with a 2-inch layer of sheet asphalt. 

A concrete cut-off was provided under 
the upstream edge of the concrete sec- 
tions of the dam. Grout holes, 5 feet 
apart, were drilled into the foundation, 
to depths of approximately 17 feet, along 
the bottom of the cut-off and under the 
core wall of the right embankment sec- 
tion. These holes were grouted under 
pressures of 90 to 100 pounds per square 
inch. Drain holes, 5 feet apart and 
approximately 20 feet deep, were located 
downstream from the grout holes and 
under the upstream edge of the drainage 
gallery to which they were connected by 
vertical 3-inch wrought-iron pipe risers. 
A vertical well and a 15-inch cross drain 
in the spillway section of the dam conduct 
the drainage to the downstream edge of 
the spillway. 

Concrete sections of the dam were 
designed for assumed uplift pressures, 
varying from full reservoir intensity at 
the upstream side to tail-water pressures 
at the downstream side, acting over one- 



28 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



February, 1929 



third the area of the base; for an as- 
sumed reservoir water surface 5 feet 
higher than the normal water level; and 
with a sliding factor of 0.65. 

Vertical expansion joints were provided 
in the concrete sections of the dam, at 
intervals averaging 36 feet, the concrete 
being poured in alternate panels and inter- 
mediate panels filled in later. Each 
joint is provided with a 20-gauge, copper 
seal, placed near the upstream face of 
the dam and extending from the base to 
the top of the structure; also with vertical 
keyways, 3 feet wide by 9 inches deep, 
spaced 3 feet apart. 

CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS 

Construction operations were started 
at the east side of the river channel a few 
weeks after the contract was awarded. 
A timber crib cofferdam was built from 
the east bank so as to include all of the 
high-pressure gates and the two 15-foot 
penstocks in the left penstock section. 
Concreting was started in July, 1925, 
and as soon as this part of the dam was 
carried up to elevation 4,300 the river was 
turned through the gate openings and 
the two penstocks, thus permitting work to 
be carried on in the remaining section of 
the river. 

A timber railroad trestle was built 
across the river just below the dam, and 
by means of suitable switch backs on the 
west side the contractor was able to main- 
tain the track along the top of the right 
embankment section until it had reached 
its full height. Most of the concrete, 
steel, rock riprap, and other materials 
were handled from this trestle. 

The screening and mixing plant was 
located on the east side of the river below 
the dam. Endless belt conveyors car- 
ried the aggregate from the unloading pit 
to the revolving screens, where it was 
separated into sand, gravel, and cobbles; 
from the screens to convenient stock piles; 
and from the stock piles to suitable bins 
at the top of the mixing tower from which 
it could be chuted to the two 2-yard con- 
crete mixers as desired. The mixers dis- 
charged into bottom dump skips, loaded 
on flat cars which were hauled to the dam 
by dinkey engines, picked up by cranes, 
and dumped. Two independent mixing 
plants, equipped with two J^-yard mixers, 
were used in constructing the west retain- 
ing wall and the right embankment core 
wall, material being supplied by trucks. 
Aggregate was obtained from the Michaud 
pit, located on the Oregon Short Line 
Railroad about 15 miles east of American 
Falls, some sand from the Mary Franklin 
pit near American Falls being added as 
needed. 

The winter of 1925 and 1926 was unus- 
ually mild so that concreting from the 



TABLE 1. Cost of American Falls Dam 



Class of work 


Quantity 


Unit 


Total cost 


Unit 
cost 








$135 000 






4,432 




1 773 


$0 40 


Excavation, class 1; stripping for base of dam 


53,844 


...do... 


24,229 


.45 


Excavation, class 1; core wall and trenches, open cut 


3,359 


...do... 


1,848 


.55 


Trench excavation for core wall; timbered.. . 


2,308 


. .do... 


13,847 


6.00 


Trench excavation for core wall, classes 1 and 2; not timbered 


215 


- -do--. 


430 


2.00 


Trench excavation for core wall, class 3; not timbered ... . 


726 


...do - 


6,532 


9.00 


Excavation, class 3; dam and retaining wall base.. 


35,440 


-do- 


141, 761 


4.00 


Excavation, class 3; cut-off trench. 


3,995 


do . 


23,972 


6.00 


Rock blanket on downstream face of dam 


3,972 


.do 


5,958 


1.50 


Back fill of retaining walls 


10, 034 


do . 


8,027 


.80 


Dry back fill, downstream face of gravity section 


11,021 


do 


6,613 


.60 


Puddled back fill, downstream face of gravity section 


13, 596 


...do 


13,596 


1.00 




4,676 


do 


7,328 


1.57 




105, 594 


do 


79, 196 


.75 




7,509 


do 


13, 141 


1.75 




14,791 


do 


44 424 


3 00 




15, 166 


Lin. ft 


28, 132 


1 85 




10 805 


do 


23 729 


2 19 


Grout hole pipe connections 


877 


Holes... 


3,744 


4.27 


Drain hole pipe connections. .. 


571 


...do 


5,029 


8.80 


Pressure grouting . . 


477 


Cu. yds 


31, 777 


66.68 


Placing drain tile in dam . .. 


217 


Liu. ft ..- 


188 


.87 


Concrete in core wall, forms not required . 


2,900 


Cu. yds . 


36, 745 


12.67 


Concrete in core wall, forms required . . 


3,397 


.do -. 


71,567 


21.07 


Concrete in retaining walls 


4,670 


do 


117, 261 


25.11 


Concrete in gravity sections 


163,953 


do - . 


1, 406, 319 


8.58 


Concrete in trash rack structure 


1,253 


do . 


41,295 


32.93 




538 


do . 


7,602 


14. 13 




1,042 


do 


23,794 


22.84 




1, 432, 370 


Pounds 


'28,647 


.020 




152,260 


do 


8, 157 


.053 




587,005 


do 


63 954 


. 109 




1, 319, 190 




177, 597 


. 135 


Structural steel pen stock gates, frames, and connections .. 


450, 478 


...do... 


37,908 


.084 


Electrical conduit, fittings, and boxes, installed.... . ._ 


14,041 


Lin. ft 


11,023 


.785 


Placing contraction joints in concrete 






5,654 




Installing reservoir guages 






953 




Drains for seepage water 






5,010 




Placing 36-inch pipe through dam for Neeley project 






686 










2,849 




Roadway to tunnel house and level below dam 






2,433 










6,146 










249 










1 15,508 




Adjusted compensation per article 45 of contract 






'40,000 














Total cost of dam .. . _. 






2, 592, 214 















1 $28,401 included in other items. 



1 Credit items. 



main plant could be carried on with very 
little delay. A battery of two horizontal 
boilers heated the mixing water during 
the colder weather; and whenever neces- 
sary, the fresh concrete was covered with 
tarpaulins and live steam from the dinkey 
engines applied until the concrete was 
well set. 

Most of the material for the right em- 
bankment section was obtained from the 
slope of the hill lying directly west of the 
dam site; the material for the left embank- 
ment section was obtained from a borrow 
pit at the east end of the dam. Both 
embankments were constructed by de- 
positing the earth in 6-inch layers, 
sprinkling, and rolling with a 10-ton roller. 
Rock for riprapping the embankments was 
obtained from the excavation for the base 
of the left abutment section, the excavated 
material being stored in piles in front of 
the dam until needed. To facilitate 
handling the material a 36-foot panel of 
the dam was left open until the other 
work was practically completed, and a 
railroad track laid through the opening 
so that trains could run through the gap. 

Highway traffic across the river was 
maintained during the greater part of the 
construction period by building a tem- 



porary bridge across the river just below 
the dam. This was washed out during 
the spring flood of 1927 and from that 
time until the bridge over the dam was 
completed traffic was maintained by 
operating a cable ferry boat, the boat 
being built on pontoons and having a deck 
45 feet long and 26 feet wide. The deck 
had a capacity of 9 automobiles and from 
200 to 700 cars were transported daily. 

Construction of the permanent bridge 
over the dam was begun in February, 
1927, the work being started at both ends 
and proceeding toward the center. 

The construction plant, consisting of 
a J^-yard concrete mixer, a circular saw 
for cutting forms, and a hoisting tower, 
was placed near the center of the left 
abutment section; and the concrete was 
delivered to the forms by Ford trucks, 
running along the 8-foot top of the dam. 
Practically all exposed concrete was 
poured in metal-lined forms, thus obtain- 
ing a smooth finish. Concrete work was 
finished August 30, 1927, the asphalt 
pavement was completed September 14, 
and the bridge was opened to traffic 
September 24, 1927. 

Preparations for moving the city of 
American Falls to a new site near the east 



February, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



29 



end of the dam were begun in the fall of 
1923. The Bureau of Reclamation ac- 
quired the new town site; subdivided it 
into lots, parks, industrial areas, etc.;, 
graded and graveled the principal streets; 
installed sidewalks, water pipes, a sewer 
system and street culverts; and set more 
than 3,300 trees and shrubs in the parks 
and along the streets. None of this work 
was included in the contract for the dam. 
Some of it was done by separate contract, 
the remainder by Government forces. In 
the spring of 1925 the people began mov- 
ing their houses to the new town. Nearly 
all buildings were carried on trucks, using 
the so-called three-point method of sus- 
pension; that is, with one set of trucks at 
the front of the house and two sets at the 
rear. Practically all moving was com- 
pleted by the end of 1926. 

COST DATA 

Table 1 gives the quantities, total costs, 
and unit costs of the various items in- 
cluded in the construction of the dam; 
Table 2 gives similar data for the highway 
bridge. The contractor's profit amounted 
to about 14.1 per cent of the total in the 
case of the dam, and to about 6.8 per cent 
of the total in the case of the bridge. The 
contractor cooperated with the engineers 
in keeping accurate detailed records of 
cost of all classes of work. Wages paid 
by the contractor were from $3.60 to $4.80 
per day for common labor, from $4.80 to 
$8 per day for skilled labor, from $125 to 
$250 per month for miscellaneous em- 
ployees on a monthly rate of pay, and 
from $125 to $500 per month for foremen 
and superintendents. 

Table 3 gives the principal items of 
cost involved in the entire reservoir 
project, including preliminary investi- 
gations, right-of-way items, and various 
items of overhead. Quantities are given 
in percentages of the total cost as well 
as in absolute values. It will be noticed 
that the cost of the dam alone amounted 
to only about 35 per cent of the total 
cost of the reservoir. The expense 
incurred because of the fact that the city 
of American Falls was originally built 
in the reservoir site amounted to about 
23 per cent of the total, the expendi- 
tures for rural property affected to about 
12.4 per cent, the expenditures for 
Indian land adjustments to about 9.8 
per cent, and the expenditures made to 
cover the interests of the Idaho Power Co. 
to about 8.7 per cent. The total cost of 
the reservoir to date is $7,355,315, which is 
$541,685 less than the engineers 'estimate, 
and an average of only $4.33 per acre-foot. 



TABLE 2. Cost of bridge at American Falls dam 



Class of work 


Quantity 


Unit 


Total cost 


Unit 
cost 


Concrete bridge deck and girders . _ _ 


1 282 


Cu. yd 


$36 696 


$28 62 


Concrete bents and recesses in dam 


683 


do 


24 785 


36 30 


Concrete parapet on left abutment section, including curb 


404 


do 


10 337 


25 60 


Concrete curb on embankment sections of dam 


178 


do 


4 157 


23 32 


Concrete pedestals for lamp posts... 


10 


Units... 


533 


53.30 


Railing panels on concrete dam, installed and painted . _ _ _ _ 


212 


do 


8,010 


37.78 


Railing panels on embankments, installed and painted _ . _ _ 


122 


do 


5,219 


42.76 


Cutting, bending, and placing reinforcing steel _ _ 


297, 740 


Pounds 


1 5,211 


.0175 


Structural steel beams, installed and painted 


546, 343 


do 


27, 145 


.049 


Angles and bearing plates, installed and painted 


28,176 


do 


3,689 


. 131 


Cast-iron road drains 


86 


Units 


891 


10 37 


Cast-iron manholes 


16 


do 


399 


24 93 


Metal lamp posts, installed and painted 


75 


..do. 


3,527 


47.03 


Electrical conduits, fittings, and boxes, installed . . _ . . 


3,069 


Lin. ft 


1,596 


.52 


Electrical wiring ... . . _ _ 


Lump sum. 




1,671 




Asphalt road surface, laid . 


6,262 


Sq. yds 


18, 479 


2.95 


Bridge approaches 


179 


Cu. yds 


990 


5.53 


Miscellaneous work. 






246 














Total cost of bridge 






148, 370 















i $5,211 included in other items. 



TABLE 3. Cost of American Falls reservoir 



Feature 



Surveys, investigations, and testing 

City property; purchases, damages, appraisals, and miscellaneous... 
Rural property; purchases, damages, appraisals, and miscellaneous- 
Indian lands; purchases, field investigations, appraisals, etc. 

Highway changes; easements, construction, bridges, and ferry _. 

Idaho Power Co.; purchases, damages, easements, etc. 

Oregon Short Line R. R. Co.; purchases, damages, etc 

American Falls dam, construction of 

Bridge across dam, construction of . 

Camp maintenance 

Engineering and inspection 

Superintendence and accounts. 

General expense 



Total cost of dam and reservoir 

Total estimated cost of dam and reservoir. 



Net saving in cost- 



Cost 



$127, 925 

1, 685, 128 

912, 515 

720, 398 

83,892 

640, 194 

142,288 

2, 592, 214 

148, 370 

3,388 

102,006 

23,601 

173, 396 



7, 355, 315 
7,897,000 



541,685 



Per cent 

of total 

cost 



1.74 

22.91 

12.41 

9.79 

1.14 

8.70 

1.93 

35.24 

2.02 

.05 

1.39 

.32 

2.36 



100.00 




A wheat field on the Tule Lake division of the Klamath project, Oregon-California 



30 



NEW RBLLAMATION ERA 



February, 1929 



A Practical Demonstration of Aided and 
Directed Settlement 



THE activities of Winston Bros. Co. on 
the Zurich Irrigation District of the 
Chinook Division of the Milk River pro- 
ject, Montana, afford a practical demon- 
stration of what financially aided and 
directed settlement will do in ciying a sick 
project. The his tory of their work follows : 

District bonds were taken by the 
company in payment for construction of 
the canal system. As time went on these 
bonds were depreciating in value, district 
taxes were becoming increasingly delin- 
quent, interest payments were not being 
made promptly or in full, there was little 
if any agricultural development, several 
farms had been practically abandoned, 
the remaining landowners as a rule were 
disheartened, and the future prospect was 
rather discouraging. The company con- 
sidered disposing of the bonds at a sub- 
stantial discount, but after a thorough 
study of the situation decided rather to 
endeavor to enhance the value of the 
securities by investing additional funds in a 
development and rehabilitation program. 

An extremely competent local business 
man who was also secretary of the dis- 
trict and very familar with conditions 
generally and individually was placed in 
charge of the project. Action was im- 
mediately started to obtain title to the 
delinquent lands by tax deed, and in this 
manner nine farms varying in size from 



40 to 320 acres were acquired. The 
revenue to the district from the purchase 
of tax-sale certificates by the company 
resulted in improving its financial condi- 
tion to such a extent that it was possible 
to liquidate an indebtedness of about 
$20,000 represented by registered war- 
rants, placing the project on practically a 
cash basis. The district was then able 
to finance a badly needed drainage pro- 
gram, now practically complete, which 
will ultimately render productive a con- 
siderable area of land previously either 
flooded or water-logged. 

Two of the farms acquired by the com- 
pany were immediately redeemed by the 
owners, who produced crops during 1928 
for the first time in several years. During 
the past year six new settlers were placed 
upon the remaining tracts. These set- 
ters were carefully chosen by the local 
agent and were men experienced in irri- 
gated farming. In most cases there were 
no improvements on the farms and it was 
necessary to construct small but adequate 
and permanent farm buildings for the 
new settlers. Also assistance in improving 
the farm was given by paying $2 per 
acre to the tenant for the land broken 
from sod, and other financial aid tendered 
to such settlers as were considered needy 
and worthy. Assistance, of course, was 
under the strict supervision of the local 



agent and was limited to $2,000 per 
160-acre farm for improvements such as 
buildings. 

The selling price fixed for the land was 
based on tax acreage and is very low, not 
in excess of the price paid by the com- 
pany in acquiring title, which payment, 
together with cash advances, is spread 
over a long period with a reasonable 
interest rate. It is the usual policy to 
lease for one or two years to the new 
settler with option to buy at the end of 
the period if conditions are satisfactory to 
both parties. In cases, however, where 
direct purchase has been made only a 
small down payment is asked, which is 
never of such an amount as to cripple the 
purchaser in his improvement of the farm. 

Although this project has been in 
operation but one year, the general result 
to the district has been extremely bene- 
ficial. The spirit among the landowners 
has changed from despondency to op- 
timism. Some farmers who have for 
several years past allowed their lands to 
lie practically idle have paid up delin- 
quent taxes and are now actively engaged 
in improving their holdings and placing 
them on a paying basis. Tax delinquen- 
cies have dropped from approximately 
20 per cent to 4 per cent, the total 
delinquency in payment of the first half 
of 1928 taxes being approximately $1,400, 
$1,150 of which will be paid within the 
next 30 days. The general obligation of 
the district, aside from the bonded in- 
debtedness, has been reduced from around 
$28,000 to less than $10,000, and the 
prospect now is that the district will 
continue as a successful irrigation venture. 




i .- _ ,' *j ,- ~ . T 



fc- 



Purebred dairy cattle on Minidoka project, Idaho 



February, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



31 



State Engineer of Utah 
Maizes Biennial Report 

A copy of the report of George M. 
Bacon, State engineer of Utah, covering 
the biennium 1927-28, has been received 
by Dr. Elwood Mead, commissioner of 
reclamation, and might serve as a model 
for other similar reports. It is well 
printed, constructive, and readable. The 
frontispiece is a map showing the location 
of the cooperative investigations in Utah 
carried on by the Utah Water Storage 
Commission and the Bureau of Reclama- 
tion. Especially interesting are the chap- 
ters discussing the appropriation of water, 
the distribution of water, the adjudica- 
tion of water rights, and the work of the 
Utah Water Storage Commission. 

Immediately upon organizing, this com- 
mission appointed a Colorado River Data 
Committee which has brought to gether 
a large amount of data on the relation of 
Utah to the proposed development of the 
Colorado River Basin. Another matter 
of particular interest to the Bureau of 
Reclamation is the work of the commission 
in cooperative investigations of Utah pro- 
jects, including the Salt Lake Basin, Provo 
River, Utah Lake, Cache Valley, Bland- 
ing, Tooele-Rush Lake, and Moon Lake 
projects. Requests for investigations 
have been made and study will later be 
given to the Paradise Park, Ouray, Price 
River, and Gooseberry projects. 



Irrigation and Freight Tonnage 

By B. E. StoulemcytT, District Counsel 



DURING the year 1927 there were 
6,437 carloads of freight shipped 
out from the various stations on the 
Minidoka project, Idaho, and large 
additional amounts shipped in, all this 
from a territory which was a sagebrush 
desert before the project was built. 
How irrigation development has served 
to produce tonnage for the transconti- 
nental railroads is illustrated by the fact 
that the Minidoka branch, from the town 
of Minidoka to the town of Buhl and 
serving the Minidoka and Twin Falls 
projects, now produces more tonnage 
than the Union Pacific System received 
from the entire State of Idaho before 
these two projects were built. This 
freight from the irrigation projects helps 
to pay the operating expenses and fixed 
charges of the transcontinental railroads 
and makes it practical to maintain lower 
rates than would be at all possible if these 
roads were obliged to operate through a 
thousand miles of unproductive territory 
and to depend entirely upon the through 
traffic and the insignificant amount of 
freight that would be produced in an arid 



section without irrigation. There are 
seven transcontinental railroads between 
the Middle West and the Pacific coast. 
Without irrigation each of these roads 
would have about a thousand miles of 
line through the arid region of the inter- 
mountain section which would be a kind 
of bridge, so far as traffic is concerned, 
requiring heavy expense for upkeep and 
producing very little revenue. 

The importance which railroad men 
attach to irrigation as a source of perma- 
nent railroad business is illustrated by the 
statement which is frequently heard in 
railroad circles in the West, that "the 
railroad will build to a hay stack but will 
not build to a mine." The irrigation 
projects are the link which connects the 
settlements of the Middle West with the 
settlements of the Pacific coast and makes 
this country an undivided whole. No 
one who is interested in the transcon- 
tinental railroads, either as a stockholder 
desiring dividends or as a shipper desiring 
good service and reasonable rates, can be 
indifferent to the irrigation development 
which is such a large element in the 
success of these roads. 




DENVER OFFICE ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION 

Left to right, standing: Byram W. Steele, designing engineer on dams; William H. Nalder, assistant chief designing engineer; Charles M. Day, mechanical engineer. 
Sitting: Erdman B. Debler, hydrographic engineer; John L. Savage, chief designing engineer; Raymond F. Walter, chief engineer; Sinclair O. Harper, 
superintendent of construction; Leslie N. McClellan, electrical engineer 



32 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



February, 1929 



. Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



~T)R. ELWOOD MEAD, Commissioner 
of Reclamation, attended the annual 
dinner of the American Engineering Coun- 
cil at the Mayflower Hotel, Washington, 
D. C., on January 14; and on January 
16 to 19, in company with George C. 
Kreutzer, director of reclamation econom- 
ics, he attended the annual meeting of 
the American Society of Civil Engineers 
in New York City. 



R. F. Walter, chief engineer of the 
Bureau of Reclamation, never lost his 
unruffled calm under the newspaper selec- 
tion of the genial chief of the Denver 
office to be in active charge of the con- 
struction of Boulder Dam. His character- 
istic comment was, "Is that so? First 
I've heard of it." 



According to figures published recently 
by the California quarantine station at 
Yuma, which inspects all cars westbound, 
the traffic for 1928 showed an increase of 
25 per cent over that of the previous year. 
Allowing three passengers to each of the 
71,423 cars inspected, 214,269 tourists 
passed through Yuma westbound, and 
the amount of eastbound traffic was 
probably only slightly less. 



Recent visitors on the Minidoka project 
included A. J. Wiley, consulting engineer, 
and F. A. Banks, construction engineer, 
in connection with an inspection of the 
river bed below American Falls Dam ; 
W. J. Martin, assistant supervisor of 
agriculture, Union Pacific System; and 
M. H. Coffin, water master of the Salmon 
River project. 



L. S. Oakes, president of Winston Bros. 
Construction Co., and J. M. Bruce, gen- 
eral superintendent of the Derbon Con- 
struction Co., spent several days on the 
gravity extension unit of the Minidoka 
project. 



M. L. Wilson, head of the department 
of agricultural economics of Montana 
State Agricultural College; I. D. O'Don- 
nell, of the State extension service; and 
C. D. Greenfield, agricultural develop- 
ment agent of the Great Northern Rail- 
way, were recent visitors on the Milk 
River project. 



Miss Maryden Dahlstrom, clerk on the 
Sun River project, has resigned. 



Recent visitors on the Belle Fourche 
project included S. O. Harper, general 
superintendent of construction, to inspect 
drains and other construction work and 
to advise on engineering repairs; N. E. 
Fordham, master mechanic, to inspect the 
riveting and calking on Lang Siphon; and 
W. D. Fisher, secretary, Custer Battlefield 
Highway Association. 



The services of Otto C. Batch, associ- 
ate reclamation economist, Belle Fourche 
project, have been discontinued, effective 
December 31. 



H. D. Fowler, Seattle representative of 
the Pittsburgh- Des Moines Steel Co., 
visited the Kittitas division of the Yakima 
project recently. 




Associate Engineer Arthur Ruettgers 
has been transferred from the Kittitas 
division of the Yakima project to the 
Denver office to assist with Kittitas de- 
signing work. Assistant Engineer George 
C. Imrie succeeds Mr. Ruettgers as 
office engineer. 



Assistant Engineer Claude W. Wood, 
Kittitas division of the Yakima project, 
has resigned to accept employment with 
the General Construction Co. on the 
Owyhee Dam contract. 



L. N. McClellan, electrical engineer 
from the Denver office, spent several days 
on the Riverton project, and was also on 
the North Platte project for two days 
inspecting the Lingle and Guernsey power 
plants. 



Adolfo Orive Alba, Mexican engineer, 
designated by the Mexican Government 
to study irrigation in the United States, 
paid the Rio Grande project a brief visit 
on his way back to Mexico. 



V. G. Evans has resigned as chief clerk 
of the Rio Grande project, and H. H. 
Berryhill has been designated as acting 
chief clerk. 



H. T. Cory was a recent visitor at the 
Washington office. He was accompanied 
by Sr. Isadoro Fontana and Sr. Carlos 
Mendoza, civil engineers from Madrid, 
sent to the United States by royal decree 
from the Spanish Government to study 
and report on concrete construction in 
general, and on dams and highways in 
particular. Mr. Cory is accompanying 
them on a personally conducted trip to 
New York, Washington, Chicago, and 
Los Angeles. 



Edward L. Sutherland, junior engineer, 
and Charles S. Hale, chief of party, 
Carlsbad project, have been transferred 
to the Owyhee project. 



Field of alfalfa grown by W. E. Reever, Tieton division, Yakima project, Washington 



James E. Golladay, associate attorney 
in the Washington office, died on January 
23, 1929, at Yuma, Ariz., where he had 
been temporarily assigned since Novem- 
ber 15, 1928. Mr. Golladay had been 
continuously in the employ of the Bureau 
of Reclamation since October 1, 1900. 

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1929 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



HON. ROY O. WEST, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

E. C. Plnney, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. O. Patterson, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary 

WuHnttan. D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner P, W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George O. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F, Kubach, Chief Accountant C, A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

0. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 
Dtncer. Colorado, WiUa BulUlni 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographie Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Annand Offutt, District Counsel; L. B. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; 
O. A. Lyman, Fiscal Inspector. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 


Belle Fourche 


Newell, 8. Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


J. P. Siebeneicher 




Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Org. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise' - 


Boise, Idaho 


R. J. Newell 


W. L. Vernon. . 




Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N. Mex 
Grand Junction, Colo. 
Ballantine, Mont 


L. E. Foster 
J. C. Page 


W. C. Berger 
W. J. Chiesman ... 


W. C. Berger 


H. J. S Devries 


Grand Valley 


W. J. Chiesman 




Huntley 1 .. 


E. E. Lewis 








King Hill' 


Zing Hill, Idaho 


F. L. Kinkaid 








Klamath 


Klamath Falls, Oreg.. 
Savage, Mont 
Malta, Mont 


H. D. Newell 


N. G. Wheeler 


Joseph C. Avery 
E. R. Scheppelmann-. 
E. E. Chabot 


R. J. Coffey 

E E Roddis 


Lower Yellowstone 
Milk River 


H. A. Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann. _ 
E. E. Chabot 


H. H. Johnson 


do 


Mmidoka ' 


Burley, Idaho 


E. B, Darlington . 


G . C . Patterson 






Newlands *' 


Fallon, Nev .. 


A. W. Walker 




Miss E.M.Simmonds. 
Virgil E. Hubbell 


R J Coffey 


North Platte 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H. C. Stetson 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Wm. J. Burke 




Okanogan, Wash 


Joe C. Iddings 




Orland 


Orland, Calif 
Nyssa, Oreg 


R. C. E. Weber 
F. A. Banks 
L. R. Fiock 


C. H. Lillingston 


O. H. Lillingston 


R. J. Cofley 


Owyhee 


H. N. Bickel 


Rio Grande 


El Paso, Tex 


T, S K"ftnninntt 


H J 8 Devries 


Rlverton 


Riverton, Wyo . 


H.D. Comstock 
C. C. Cragin 


R. B. Smith ._ R. B. Smith 


Wm. J. Burke 


Salt River 8 


Phoenix, Ariz 


Shosbone ' 


Powell, Wyo ... 


L. H. Mitchell 


W. F Sha 


E. E. Roddis 


Strawberry Valley 1(l ... 
Sun River " 


Payson,Utah 


Lee R. Taylor 






Fairfleld, Mont 


G. O. Sanford 


H. W. Johnson : H. W. Johnson 


E. E. Roddis 




flrrigon, Oreg 


A. C. Houghton 






Uncompahgre - .- 


\Hermiston, Oreg 


Enos D. Martin . .. 






Montrose, Colo 


L. J. Foster 


G. H. Bolt ! F. T). Hnlrn 




Vale 


Vale, Oreg 


H. W. Bashore 
P. J, Preston 


C. M. Voyen 
R. K. Cunningham. .. 
H. R. Pasewalk 


C. M. Voyen 




Yakima 


Yatima, Wash 


J. C Gawler 


do 




Yuma, Ariz 


R. M. Priest 


E. M. Phllebaum 


R. J. Cofley 











Large Construction Work 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo 


Coalville, Utah ! F. F. Smith 13 


C. F. Williams 








Dam. 
Kittitas 


| 
Ellensburg, Wash Walker R Young 13 


E R Mills 




B E Stoutemyer 




Sun River, Gibson 


Augusta, Mont Ralph Lowry 13 


F. C. Lewis 


F. C. Lewis 


E. E. Roddis 


Billings, Mont 


Dam. 













' Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1, 
1928 

1 Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1927. 

1 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 

1 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation 
District on Apr. 1, 1928, and of Gravity Division by Mmidoka Irrigation District 
on Dec. 2, 1016. 

' Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1928. 

' Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1928, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by 
Northport Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



' Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 

s Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. 

'' Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1928. 

Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. 

11 Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Den. 31, 1926. 

12 Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, and East Division by Hermiston Irrigation District Informally on 
July 1, 1928, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1928. 

13 Construction engineer. 



Important Intatlgatloru in Profreu 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 


Heart Mountain investigations 


Powell, Wyo 


I B Hosig 




Utah Investigations 


Salt Lake City, Utah 




State of Utah. 


Truckee River investigations 


Fallon, Nev 


A W. Walker 




Yakima project extensions 


Yakima Wash 


P J Preston 













./NEVA B/A 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR X 1 

> 



BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 

COLORADO RIVER BASIN 
BELOW BOULDER DAM 

MAP NO. 23566 



BRIDGE CANYON 
DAMSITE 

Peach Springs 
Chloride 



arker JSwansea 



^A MW'TV7VVn>RV , < 



mmm%K.*mmmv 



LOWER CALIFORNIA 




RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



MARCH, 1929 



NO. 3 




Photo, by J. E. Stimson, Cheyenne, Wyo. 

GANNETT PEAK AND GLACIER, WIND RIVER. RANGE, WYOMING ,ONE".OR.THE SOURCES OF THE COLORADO RIVER 



' I 'HE modern conception of reclamation includes experts in 

* agricultural practices and the business of agriculture as 

well as expert engineers. People drawn from Widely separated 

parts of the country must be brought to know each other and 

Work together, in order that they may cooperate in doing things 

which the community can do belter than the individual. These 

include the purchase of livestock, material for houses, the work.- 

ing out of an agricultural program that will lead to the planting 

of crops suited to the soil and climate, teamwork, in buying, and 

arranging for marketing of their products in such manner that 

the man on 40 acres inside the project can do business on equal 

terms with the man with 1 ,000 acres outside. These are not 

fanciful theories ; they are a part of modern methods and 

modern progress in building up prosperous and 

successful communities under irrigation in 

other countries. The reclaimed areas of 

the arid West afford one of the 

finest opportunities for 

their introduction 

into this country 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



ROY O. WEST 

Secretary of the Interior 



Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cents a year 



ELWOOD MEAD 
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



March, 1929 



No. 3 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



THE Yuma project practically all 
the cotton except hollies has been 
picked, arid these in many instances are 
being plowed under owing to the scarcity 
of pickers. There has been an increase 
of 11,000 bales in the amount of cotton 
ginned this year, 28,955 bales being this 
year's record as against 17,900 to the 
same data last year. 



COME damage to early cantaloupe 
plantings was evidenced by the 
heavy frosts during the latter part of the 
month on the Yuma project, but this 
damage will not seriously affect the 
season's crop, it is understood. 



TN CONNECTION with the building up 
of truck gardening and growing of 
winter vegetables on the Yuma project 
experiments have been made with carrots, 
beets, and other types of vegetables. The 
results obtained have been satisfactory 
and the acreage will possibly be increased 
next year. 



to the increased price of feed 
locally, which has reached 12^ 
to 15 cents per head per day, only a few 
cattle have been shipped into the Yuma 
project for fattening purposes during the 
past month. However, the shipping out 
of fattened cattle to the coast markets has 
increased. 



10-acre units are being pre- 
pared for planting to trees on the 
Mesa division of the Yuma project. 
This work consists of clearing, leveling, 
and planting, which will continue until 
late in May. 



OEMODELING of the Royal Hotel at 
Orland has been started, in connec- 
tion with which extensive improvements, 
consisting of installation of steam heat and 
other modern facilities, are planned. 

3612029 



PRELIMINARY plans have been for- 
mulated at Orland for a cooperative 
organization of turkey raisers of five Sac- 
ramento Valley counties in the vicinity of 
Glenn County for the purpose of stabiliz- 
ing prices to the extent of bringing the 
growers remunerative returns. The move- 
ment had its inception with the Orland 
Grange. 

PHE Orland project has been in the grip 
of an unusually cold winter, and ac- 
cording to local records, with the exception 
of the years 1910 and 1922, the tempera- 
ture has reached the lowest point since 
1883, but no damage to any project crops 
has resulted. 



SURVEYS are being made by the El 
Paso Natural Gas Co. to determine 
the feasibility of extending their construc- 
tion to include Las Cruces. A charter 
has been granted by the city of Las 
Cruces to this company for supplying gas, 
providing that it is found feasible. 



A T THE California Livestock and Baby 
^*- Beef Show in San Francisco, six 
Nevada calves of 4-H Boys' and Girls' 
Club brought $4,540, or an average of 
$756 per animal. This is believed to be 
a world's record average price for 4-H 
Club calves sold at auction. The average 
price was 89 cents per pound. 



ANEW book on turkey production, 
containing over 300 pages and 30 
illustrations, has been written by L. E. 
Cline, Churchill County agricultural ex- 
tension agent. Turkey experts have 
pronounced this book a real contribution 
to literature on this subject. 



the advent of electric power to 
the farms on the Newlands project 
there is a marked tendency to materially 
improve rural living conditions. 



AT THE recent annual meeting in 
Reno of the Nevada State Farm 
Bureau agricultural problems of the State 
were discussed. Sam H. Thompson, presi- 
dent of the American Farm Bureau Feder- 
ation, an outstanding figure in agriculture, 
stressed the fact that responsibility for 
much of the inequality that now burdens 
the agricultural industry is due to lack of 
organization on the part of the farmers. 



A T THE recent annual meeting of the 
Minidoka County Beet Growers' 
Association action was taken looking to 
the securing of an agreement with the 
Amalgamated Sugar Co. to operate the 
Rupert-Paul factory during the coming 
season. 



E Yuma Mesa Fruit Growers' Asso- 
ciation is marketing fruit under its 
own trade names through the packing 
plant at Highland Park, Calif. The latest 
recorded price was 4J^ cents per pound 
for grapefruit, which forms the major 
crop of the Mesa division of the project. 



"DENEWED activity is being manifested 
in the subdivisions adjoining the city 
of Yuma. These are usually split up into 
J^-acre to 5-acre tracts, and are used 
mainly for residential purposes. Addi- 
tional road bonds for more paving through 
the valley division of the project will be 
voted upon in the near future, and, if 
carried, will provide good roads leading 
within 1 to 2 miles of each holding in this 
division. 



THE Uncompahgre project excellent 
prices are being received for cattle 
shipped to market. The 1929 wool crop 
is being contracted at prices ranging 
around 37 cents per pound or better, and 
many sheepmen are holding out for a pros- 
pective increased price at the time of' 
shearing. 

33 



34 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



March, 1929 



The Problems and Accomplishments of the Bureau of Reclamation 

Speech of Dr. Elwood Mead, Commissioner of Reclamation, broadcast by Station WJSV. Washington. D. C, February 5, 1929 



THE Reclamation Bureau was created 
to build irrigation works and make 
homes on the unpeopled deserts of the 
arid region. In urging this policy, Presi- 
dent Roosevelt said that the reclamation 
and settlement of these lands would enrich 
every portion of the country; that home- 
making was but another name for nation- 
building. 

The operation of the act has amply sus- 
tained the President's forecast. More 
than 600,000 people live on the Federal 
reclamation projects that dot the thous- 
and-mile zone of scanty and uncertain 
rainfall that once separated the humid 
ast from the cities and farms of the 
Pacific coast. They sustain 685 schools 
and 683 churches. The crops grown in 
1928 were worth $135,000,000, which 
amount is almost sufficient to pay off in 
a single year the entire indebtedness of 
the projects to the Government amount- 
ing to $166,000,000. The farms, gardens, 
and orchards give fresh cheap food to 
mining districts and help keep mines in 
operation. The policy has strengthened 
the range stock industry by providing 
winter feed for stock, which without they 
would have starved. It has cheapened 
freight rates by giving an immense amount 
-of local business to transcontinental roads. 

One or two illustrations will show this. 
In one Federal irrigation district where 
25 years ago the only livestock was jack 
rabbits and coyotes, a single town paid 
the Burlington Railroad last year $800,000 
in freight charges. More freight was 
carried over the Union Pacific to and from 
two Government projects on Snake River 
in Idaho than came from the entire State 
before these projects were built. 

THE WHOLE COUNTRY BENEFITS * 

These reclaimed areas are supplying 
this country with numerous valuable 
products which can not be grown else- 
where and they supply our markets with 
fresh vegetables at seasons of the year 
when climate suspends production in 
other sections. Dates can only be grown 
in the arid irrigated Southwest. Sugar 
beets, rice, and long-staple cotton lessen 
the amount of money we have to send 
abroad. Federal irrigated areas furnish 
An immense and stable market for eastern 
factories. Automobiles, farm machinery, 
clothing, and other articles manufactured 
in the East fill the warehouses of western 
towns. Providing these things gives 
employment to thousands of workers and 
creates larger local demands for the 
products of eastern farms. Because so 



many of the crops of western reclamation 
do not compete with those of humid 
sections, and because of the support they 
give to eastern industries, Federal reclama- 
tion has not injured eastern agriculture. 
On the contrary it has helped it. 

DEVELOPMENT BY PRIVA TE ENTERPRISE 
AIDED AND EXTENDED 

In nearly every large valley of the arid 
region the reclamation policy has acted 
as a life-saver for communities begun by 
private enterprise. The settlers in Salt 
River Valley, Ariz., living under half a 
dozen privately built canals, found them- 
selves unable to obtain means to complete 
their works or build the reservoir needed 
to regulate the river's discharge. By 
taking over and rebuilding these works 
and building the Roosevelt Reservoir it 
made of this valley one of the richest 
agricultural districts in the West and one 
of Arizona's greatest economic assets. In 
a valley where no agricultural crop can 
be grown without irrigation, the crops 
taken from its irrigated fields in 1928 
were worth $26,100,000. 

Similar aid in extending and safe- 
guarding private development, by build- 
ing great storage works and larger and 
more substantial canals, has exerted its 
beneficent influence on the irrigated 
communities of the Rio Grande, Yakima, 
Snake, Missouri, and North Platte Rivers. 
No other investment of the Government 
has brought greater social or economic 
returns and, because of the local need for 
this development, none other has been of 
greater national advantage. 

ALL MONEY SPENT COMES FROM THE 
ARID REGION 

There is a widespread belief that the 
money spent on reclamation comes from 
taxes, and that the farmers of the humid 
section pay these taxes. Nothing of the 
kind occurs. The original act provided 
that development would be limited to 
the money made available from the sales 
of public land and from the income ob- 
tained from the sale of these works to 
water users, when built. This income 
from the payment of construction costs 
was to be a revolving fund and be avail- 
able for building other works. The 
water users' construction payments are 
bow the chief source of money for building 
new works. The revolving fund is 
revolving. Last year settlers' payments 
amounted to more than $5,000,000. The 
payments from a single project reached 
the huge total of $1,765,000. In addition 



to the income from land sales and water 
users' payments, some revenue comes from 
oil and other mineral leases, and the 
revenues from power plants. In all, 
about $11,500,000 was appropriated for 
construction in 1929. 

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF 
IRRIGATION 

Conquering the desert requires more 
than canals and reservoirs. Before satis- 
factory results from irrigation can be 
secured, soil baked for centuries must be 
subdued. The surface has to be leveled 
so that water will flow over it easily. 
Thousands of farmhouses and other 
farm buildings have to be built; equip- 
ment and livestock have to be provided. 
The amount of money required for these 
things is far greater than has been realized, 
and the obstacles which confront settlers 
are so serious that organization and 
direction are needed in overcoming them. 

The importance of planning settlement 
and farm development has only begun to 
be realized. The greatest progress in 
reclamation in recent years has come 
through the attention paid to its social 
and economic problems. Not all these 
problems have been solved. Better credit 
in farm development is needed, broader 
and more comprehensive plans for de- 
termining what crops can be grown and 
for efficient marketing of products are 
required. 

In addition to the above there is needed 
closer cooperation between the Federal 
and State Governments. State interest 
in the projects located within its borders 
should be manifested by lessening taxes 
during the development period, giving aid 
and advice in rns.king farm improvements, 
and helping these new communities to 
organize for business and social affairs. 

Then there are legal problems. On 
many streams the irrigated farms line the 
banks for hundreds of miles. The rights 
to water and the protection of these rights 
when rivers are low and water is scarce 
are essential to the prosperity of farmers 
and the stability and value of irrigation 
properties. These rights, thus far, are 
established and protected under State 
laws and by State authorities, which is 
sufficient where streams rise and are used 
within a State's boundaries. But large 
livers cross State boundaries. The 
watershed of the Colorado includes parts 
of 7 States. The Columbia includes 5 
and the Missouri 6. Federal reclamation 
works are being operated in 15 of these 
States. Contracts with settlers have to 



March, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



35 



conform to these laws and to numerous 
amendments of the original act by Con- 
gress. The legal and accounting branches 
of the Reclamation Bureau confront many 
difficult problems. 

THE WEST URGES NEW DEVELOPMENT 

The pressure by localities and States 
for new works and to complete old ones 
was never greater than at present. Some 
now being built have a size and cost not 
regarded as possible when Federal recla- 
mation began. The Owyhee Dam, now 
building, will be 405 feet high and will 
impound water for 125,000 acres of land 
in Oregon and Idaho. The dam and 
canals will cost $18,000,000. The Boul- 
der Dam in the Colorado, recently ap- 
proved by Congress, will be 700 feet high 
and will impound water enough to cover 
the State of Maine to a depth of 1 foot. 
It will hold the entire flow of the river for 
a year and a half. Both dams are higher 
than any now existing. Both, when com- 
pleted, will be monumental engineering 
achievements. 

The agricultural depression following 
the Great War caused extreme hardship 
and loss to settlers on reclamation projects 
where farms were not fully improved and 
earning power had not been established. 
In sections of the country where farms 
were improved and markets near by, 
farmers lost money and many were unable 
to meet their obligations. Doing this 
was still more difficult on reclamation 
farms, where land still needed to be 
leveled, where buildings had to be erected 
and more equipment bought. Financial 
difficulties of Federal reclamation project 
farmers led to an investigation in 1924, 
and to a writing off of $14,000,000 of the 
construction indebtedness to the Govern- 
ment. This is about 7 per cent of the 
total expenditure on reclamation. The 
payment of $12,000,000 was deferred. 
Many believed that the deferred pay- 
ments would also be lost, but some is 
being paid, and recent events give reason 
to expect that a considerable part will be. 

PROJECTS ARE MEETING THEIR PAY- 
MENTS TO THE GOVERNMENT 

The generous action of the Govern- 
ment had a valuable moral effect. It 
improved the financial outlook of settlers 
and restored hope and confidence. As 
a result, the payments in 1927 were 
$1,000,000 more than those in 1926, and 
those of 1928 were $1,000,000 more than 
those in 1927. On 11 of the projects, 87 to 
100 per cent of the construction payments 
due have been made. On 5 others, the 
percentage ranges from 76 to 84, and 
there are only 2 projects where less than 
half the payments due are still owing. 



Government Subsidy in Settlement 



"T)R. H. SCHILDKNECHT, of Switzer- 
land, has called attention to recent 
action by foreign governments in sub- 
sidizing the settlement and development 
of idle land. 

ITALY 

In a recent issue of the Paris edition of 
the New York Herald the statement 
appears that within less than two years 
132,500 acres of boggy, useless land have 
been reclaimed and placed under cultiva- 
tion. In this area there have been created 
modern villages and 226 separate farms, 
inhabited by people who have migrated 
from other overpopulated sections of the 
country. A population at the start of 
9,360 persons has grown to 15,000. 
Whereas in 1922 this area supported only 
10,000 head of cattle, it supports to-day 
more than double that number. About 
80,000 acres of the total are devoted to 
the growing of grain, as against 25,000 
before the reclamation work was begun. 

The Italian Government has now pre- 
pared a bill calling for the reclamation 
by drainage and irrigation of a huge area 
of land which now either lies under stag- 
nant water or is otherwise untillable. 
Under the terms of the bill, the work 
must be accomplished within 14 years at 
the outside at a total cost of 7,500,000,000 
lire. Of this sum the State will con- 
tribute 3,800,000,000 lire, in annual pay- 
ments spread over a period of 30 years, 
and the proprietors of the land to be 
reclaimed will contribute the rest. 

Much of the land to be reclaimed lies 
along the valley of the River Po and in 
other parts of central and northern Italy, 
but perhaps the greatest amount of work 
is to be done in southern Italy. It is 
estimated that 91 per cent of the land in 
the Basilicata section alone is subject to 
reclamation. 

GERMANY 

By an act of the German Government 
of November 11, 1926, loans are made to 



On 17 projects between 92 and 100 per 
cent of all the operation payments have 
been met, and on none of them has less 
than half of the operation payments been 
made, and on only 3 are the payments less 
than 90 per cent. 

Each year farms become better im- 
proved. Each year cultivation becomes 
more skillful and scientific. The average 
crop return per acre is now more than two 
and a half times that of the country as 
a whole. Reclamation has justified it- 
self by the wealth it has produced, and 
by the influence it has exerted to build up 
a sound and prosperous life on what, 
without it, would be unpeopled deserts. 



subsidize reclamation and settlement. 
Of a total sum of 60,000,000 reichsmark, 
one-fourth is provided for settlement in 
reclaimed areas. The loans are made 
for a period of 5 years and the interest 
ranges between 4 and 4% per cent. By 
a later act the Government spends up to 
1931, 6,000,000 reichsmark as subsidies 
to lower the interest rate of the above 
loans in reclamation and settlement. 
Abstract from Der Kulturtechniker. 

CZECHOSLOVAKIA 

From 1919 to 1925 the Department of 
Agriculture of Czechoslovakia spent the 
sum of 54,241,502 kroner for subsidies 
in reclamation, mainly drainage and 
settlement. 

COLOMBIA 

The lack of immigrants or colonists 
has been given serious study by the 
Government of Colombia and encourage- 
ment has been given for foreigners to 
take up agricultural lands in the Republic. 

One of the most important steps taken 
has been the execution of two contracts 
in May, 1927, between the National 
Government and two Colombian com- 
panies for colonizing the Sierra Nevada 
region around Santa Marta. One con- 
tract was with the Compania General de 
Negocios, S. A. (General Business Co. 
(Inc.)) of Barranquilla, and the other 
with the Compania Colonizadora en la 
Sierra Nevada, S. A. (Sierra Nevada 
Colonization Co. (Inc.)) of Santa Marta. 
The tracts of land comprised under the 
contracts are approximately 125,000 acres 
each, and are located in the mountain 
regions where climatic conditions are 
more suitable for European colonists. 
It is planned to furnish each colonist with 
about 60 acres of land and in accordance 
with the contract not less than 2,000 
colonists must settle on each of the tracts 
of land under consideration. 

In the early part of 1928, the President 
of the Republic signed a decree for the 
development of agricultural conditions on 
public lands. Under the terms of the 
decree the Minister of Industry is directed 
to organize agricultural colonies for the 
people of Colombia as well as immigrants 
for areas around the Pacific Ocean and 
other designated areas. In each colony 
it is planned to establish a church, 
hospital, schools, and a municipal house 
and an area of 300 hectares is to be set 
aside for an agricultural experiment 
station. Each colony is to maintain a 
commissary to be operated on a coopera- 
tive basis and each colonist shall be en- 
titled to a piece of land ranging from 25 
to 175 acres. 



36 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



M-.r.-li, 1929 





JHP 



By Mae A. Schnurr 
Secretary to the Commissioner 




Facts About the Success of German Agriculture 



DESERVES BEST THOUGHT AND ATTEN- 
TION 

TUVENTY-SIX years, with reclamation 
by irrigation as a Federal policy of 
the United States, has taught many things. 
Among them is the fact that irrigation 
farming is a highly specialized enterprise. 
No longer can anyone say that all one 
needs to get results are good soil and 
brawn, or that all the Government needs 
to make a successful project are irrigation 
works and good growing conditions and 
that these will be inducement enough to 
attract the right kind of farmer. Both of 
these versions have been refuted by 
experience. 

The very purpose of the reclamation act, 
which offered the opportunity for making 
homes on the desert wastes of the arid 
and semiarid region, is defeated if addi- 
tional irrigation works are built without a 
definite program of settlement and in- 
tensified farm development, and that 
means bringing to Federal projects the 
kind of people, with sufficient capital and 
experience to make success possible. The 
increased cost of new projects means 
taking precautions for increased earning 
power that were not taken with earlier 
projects built. 

If the established farmer can not make 
a go of it, what incentive is there for the 
growing boys and girls of our projects to 
enter into the spirit of farming and select 
agriculture as a vocation? 

WHAT ARE OLDER COUNTRIES DOING? 

Foreign countries had the vision long 
ago to discourage or provide through edu- 
cation for the drift from agricultural pur- 
suits, and every opportunity was afforded 
for the study of agriculture, not only by 
the growing boy but by adults as well. 
Better and cheaper methods of doing 
things have increased the earning power 
of the farmer. Thus we find, in countries . 
like Denmark and Germany, that genera- : 
tion after generation boasts of following 
agricultural pursuits. 



In America the movement to train the 
young in this field is gaining impetus and, 
by cooperative funds of the States and 
Federal Government, progress has been 
made in the development of teachers of 
vocational education who form the nucleus 
of the force which spreads the gospel of 
"special training for farming" the same as 
for any trade. 




Village of Wendleben, Germany, and surrounding 
country 

In Europe this movement is so far ahead 
of America that each year delegations 
from the States and Federal Government 
study its methods on the ground. I was 
privileged to do this last summer, going as 
delegate from the Interior Department 
with a party of educators, farmers, and 
business men. 

Our attention was naturally focused on 
Denmark and Germany. A short account 
on Denmark appeared in the February 
issue of the "Era." 



AGRICULTURAL TRAINING 

Much has been heard about the prac- 
tical training of the younger generation in 
trades in Europe and reference is always 
made to Germany's effective system of 
apprenticeship. 

In going through Germany I availed 
myself of every opportunity to inquire 
about the subject and observe the system 
in operation, where possible, with particu- 
lar reference to agricultural apprentice- 
ship. From various sources the following 
information on the subject was gathered: 

A great deal of Germany's land is in 
large holdings and handled as estates. The 
crying need is for agricultural managers, 
and thorough apprenticeship is devised to 
lead to these better positions. Apprentice- 
ship in Germany is sponsored by private 
interests. 

Approximately 90 per cent of Ger- 
many's farms, up to 100 acres, 70 per cent 
of those over 100 and less than 500 acres, 
and 25 per cent of those farms of 500 up- 
wards to 3,000 acres or more, are operated 
by owners. 

AGRICULTURAL WINTER SCHOOLS 

Prior to 1908 the traditional home 
training of the German peasant-type of 
farmer was supplemented by the agri- 
cultural winter schools. Thus they re- 
presented the agricultural college of the 
peasant farmer. These were usually 
conducted at the county seats by the 
county administration (Kreisaemter or 
Oberaemter). Theoretical instruction of 
an elementary nature in problems of 
farm management was emphasized in 
these schools. 

Out of this grew the desire for organized 
apprenticeship. 

INAUGURATION OF ORGANIZED APPREN- 
TICESHIP 

Agricultural apprenticeship was first 
organized in the Prussian Province of 

i Saxony in 1908 by the Deutsche Land- 
wirtschafts Gesellschaft (German Agricul- 

' tural Society) ; for brevity hereafter to be 



March, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



37 




and Associate Editor 
New Reclamation Era 





referred to as D. L. G. This society has a 
committee for agricultural apprenticeship. 

The cooperating federal agency is the 
federal economic council and through its 
educational committee suggestions are 
made to the D. L. G. Under State 
secretaries of agriculture, agricultural 
agents are employed and the expense of 
this service is met cooperatively from 
State and Federal funds. 

The D. L. G. investigates and selects 
the training farms, of which there are 
230, according to the latest statistics on 
the subject, located in all sections of 
Germany. These recognized training 
farms are subjected to periodic check-ups 
as to their standard and also as to the 
apprentices assigned. Candidates are 
accepted from the age of 15 and up, and 
the minimum education is grammar 
school only. 

There is no authority of law for the 
apprenticeship system in Germany. An 
agricultural apprentice candidate signs a 
written contract for two years training, 
which states the curriculum. A nominal 
salary of probably $5 per month is paid 
and board and lodging furnished by the 
owner of the farm to which he is assigned. 

His training is systematically arranged 
so that every phase of the operation of a 
farm is explained as he is trained in the 
business of farming. These include chem- 
ical analysis of the soil and its suitability 
for certain crops, preparation of the soil 
for planting, selection of seed, the rotation 
of crops and the use of commercial fer- 
tilizer to promote fertility, drainage, pro- 
tection of hillside slopes from erosion, 
the use of modern farm equipment and 
machinery and its repair, care of live- 
stock and poultry, veterinary practices, 
operation of incubators, dairying, etc. 

Apprentices classed as agricultural 
juniors have as their goal positions as 
agricultural managers. Those classed as 
agricultural assistants have the ambition 
of applying their training to a small 
farm of their own. 

After the training period, assembled 
written examinations and practical tests 
are given to those who apply. Eligibles 
for the examination are those who have 
completed the required two years of 
training. Since the inauguration of the 
apprenticeship system (1908) and up to 



1924, latest data available, 1,000 of such 
examinations have been held. 

Extensive truck farming, dairying on a 
large scale, operating a distillery, and cattle 
raising, especially breeding, are considered 
industrial agriculture and are controlled by 
ndustriial laws. Selection as apprentice- 
ship members is limited to those hold- 
ing certificates by the State chamber. 

In 1921 the cooperating body with the 
private interests sponsoring agricultural 




System of locks and canals throughout Germany for 
water transportation 

apprenticeship, made comments and sug- 
gestions for the betterment of the move- 
ment. Some of which are: 

Encourage the training of young people 
going professionally into agriculture, or 
of adults already in agriculture. 

For agriculture, mental as well as 
manual versatility is needed, therefore 
ample time is needed to study the subject 
thoroughly. 

Designation of more training farms and 
arousing to interest the chambers of 
agriculture, farm owners, and tenants of 
large holdings to create opportunities to 
educate farmers. 



Pressure should be brought to bear on 
all those who shift from nonagricultural 
to agricultural pursuits to start their work 
on training farms. 

Closer check should be made, by 
authorized committees of chambers of 
agriculture, of progress of apprentices 
and methods employed by training farms, 
I i. e., to see that the trainee is progressively 
covering the various steps of training in 
his apprenticeship contract. 

Farms to be disapproved as training 
farms on a showing of breach of appren- 
ticeship contracts. 

Those who have completed apprentice- 
ship should be urged to go into specialized 
or diversified farming for several years 
immediately following the training period. 

Continuation schools in agricultural 
districts should, in their curriculum, 
emphasize preparation for agricultural 
careers. 

Education of adults by special lectures 
and demonstrations should be encouraged 
and financed by chambers of agriculture, 
by employers' associations, and by farm 
labor unions. 

Important agricultural posts, such as 
managers of large estates, should be filled 
by those best qualified for such positions 
without regard to family or wealth. 

Number of apprentices assigned to a 
farm should be in proportion to the size 
of the farm. 

Federal laws should be enacted in regard 
to supervision of apprentices, listi-ng of 
training farms, requirements of an exam- 
ination, and listing eligibles who have 
passed examinations. 

Such Federal law should make the 
State department of agriculture responsi- 
ble for apprenticeship. 

TEACHING HOME ECONOMICS IN 
GERMANY 

This is being accomplished on a big scale 
all over Germany. In the thickly popu- 
lated communities regular courses are es- 
tablished in the schools and colleges and, 
in the sparsely settled sections, traveling 
schools are resorted to, where theoretical 
and practical instruction is given. 

The vocational bureaus have been 
urging the passing of a law making it 
compulsory for young women who con- 
template marriage to study home eco- 



38 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



March, 1029 



nomics. This movement met with failure; 
likewise the one contemplated which 
would require special training of servants. 

FURTHER ASSURANCES FOR HIGHER 
RETURNS 

All of this foresightedness in the train- 
ing of the young in Germany is supple- 
mented by using only the best quality of 
seeds and material. 

We visited one of Germany's oldest and 
largest firms of seed breeders, Hoerning 
Bros. (Ltd.), Rossleben, Germany. 

The firm controls 10 estates of 12,500 
acres. Sixty professional assistants and 
1,000 workmen are employed. Two hun- 
dred horses, 100 mules, 350 oxen, 800 other 
head of cattle, 6,000 sheep, and 600 pigs 
are on the 10 estates. 

Driving into their Rossleben estate the 
first thing we noticed were the cherry 
trees, ladened with fruit, on each side of 
the road. Our first view of their grounds 
was to me a wonderful sight. The ex- 
perimental fields and neat grouping of 
buildings immediately gave one the feeling 
of orderliness and efficiency. 

This is naturally drained country, 
gently rolling. The average rainfall over 
a period of 20 years is only 19 inches. 
This is due to what is called the "rain 
shadow" of the Harz Mountains. The 
roads could be located from quite a dis- 
tance by the rows of fruit trees lining 
them on each side. 

We walked through a portion of the 
estate and visited the administrative 
office, laboratory, selection shed, museum, 
meteorological station, etc. No effort 
was spared to inform us as to what goes 
into the exact duty of proper seed breed- 
ing. The preparation of the soil, rotation 
of crops, artificial isolation of exception- 
ally good specimens, scientific crossing, 
testing, etc., were painstakingly explained. 
These were visualized to us by a film 
showing all operations. This section is 
particularly adapted to the production of 
sugar beets and the firm of Hoerning 
Bros. (Ltd.), has an international reputa- 
tion for high-grade sugar-beet seed. 

Here, as in Sweden, women are em- 
ployed in great numbers for field and 
laboratory work. A typical working 
costume would be a three-cornered scarf 
around the head, a large apron over a 
dark dress, and wooden shoes. They 
work in groups of 20 or more, each under 
a man supervisor. 

From a vantage point two photos were 
taken showing the character of the coun- 
try we enjoyed. Note the lock and canals 
for transportation by water and the 
little village of Wendleben. This picture 
was snapped from the ruins of an old 
castle 1,000 years old, which served as a 
lookout station and protection from van- 



dals of this small village, the nucleus of 
which was a monastery. 

GERMANY'S EXPERIENCE TEACHES US 

A better understanding of agriculture, 
by training, will instill "love of the land" 
in the young generation. Their training 
will effect changes in methods of doing 
things on the established farm. How 
many instances are there where a young 
chap of the household is sent away to an 
agricultural college and returns to show 
"old dad" new and better ways to 
increase farm production and incidentally 
raise the family income? 

Encouragement of vocational agricultu- 
ral training can not be overdone. It is one 
of the ways of keeping the boy on the farm. 



Rio Grande Farmers 

Offered Cash Prizes 

The Dona Ana County Farm Bureau 
on the Rio Grande project, New Mexico- 
Texas, has offered prizes totaling $260 
to the farmers who raised the best cotton 



Tule Lal^e Opening 

March 18, 1929 

The Department of the Interior has 
announced another opening to entry of 
public land on the Tule Lake Division 
of the Klamath Federal irrigation 
project, Oregon -California. On 
March 18, S8 farm units will be 
thrown open, water for which will be 
available beginning with the irrigation 
season of 1989. 

Until June 18, 1929, these units 
will be open to entry only by officers, 
soldiers, sailors, or marines who have 
served in the Army or Navy of the 
United States in the war wilh Ger- 
many, and have been honorably dis- 
charged or separated therefrom, or 
placed in the regular Army or Naval 
Reserve: Provided, however, That they 
must be qualified to make entry under 
the homestead laws and also possess 
the qualifications as to industry, ex- 
perience, character, and capital re- 
quired of all applicants for public land. 
After June 18, 1929, any units which 
remain unentered will be subject to 
to entry by the general public. 

Copies of the public notice are now 
available and, with application blanks, 
may be obtained by addressing the 
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclama- 
tion, Washington, D. C., or the Su- 
perintendent, Klamath Irrigation 
Project, Klamath Falls, Oreg. 



The economic problems confronting 
the farmer of to-day are different and 
more numerous than they were when 
Federal reclamation was inaugurated 
due mainly to the increased cost of pro- 
duction. 

The social problem confronting project 
women is a more serious one. They are 
wide awake to the responsibility and 
taking advantage of the means at their 
disposal to solve the problems as they 
present themselves. In this they deserve 
all the help and encouragement any 
agency can extend to make farm life as 
attractive as city life and offer as many 
advantages for ease, comfort, and material 
advancement in the country as are 
offered in the towns. 



during 1928. Four prizes are being of- 
fered, one of $60 to the farmer who raised 
the best field of cotton on 5 acres or 
more; a second of $140 to the farmer who 
had the largest average yield of an entire 
farm based on acreage; a third, designed 
to encourage the keeping of cost records, 
of $25 to the farmer scoring the most 
points on completeness, accuracy, and 
economy in production as shown by acre- 
age cost, and cost of a 500-pound bale; 
and a fourth prize of $10 for the best 
sample of lint cotton of not less than 1 
pound. In addition to these prizes a 
silver medal will be given to each farmer 
who grows an average of 2 bales to the 
acre on the entire acreage of his farm, 
entitling him also to membership in the 
2-bale-an-acre club. 



Lamb Feeding Tests on 

Sun River Project 

On the Sun River project, Montana, 
lamb feeding demonstrations were car- 
ried on by two local boys, who have shown 
that the fattening of lambs can be car- 
ried on profitably upon project farms. 
Each of the boys received 54 lambs, the 
average weight being 68.1 pounds. After 
feeding for 90 days the gain in weight was 
19.6 pounds per animal, 2.21 pounds of 
hay and 1.29 pounds of grain having been 
fed to each animal daily. The lambs were 
purchased at a cost of 10J^ cents per 
pound, and the total cost of the animals, 
feed, salt, etc., was $995.34. The con- 
tracted selling price was 12 cents, bringing 
a total of $1,117.20 for 106 head, 2 of the 
original number having died. The net 
profit amounted to $121.86, or $1.13 per 
animal. The market value of the lambs 
at time of selling was 14 cents, and a 
larger profit would have been realized if 
the contract to sell at 12 cents had not 
been accepted. 



March, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



39 



Growing Almonds on the Orland Irrigation Project, California 



A I/THOUGH native to the countries 
^^ bordering the Mediterranean Sea, 
the almond is especially well adapted to 
California as a whole, trees growing in 
nearly every county of the State. The 
Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys 
together with the adjacent foothih areas, 
however, constitute the major portion of 
the State's commercial producing area. 
Almond trees are found in a number of 
eastern States, but California, produces 
about 99 per cent of the entire crop 
raised in the United States. 

The almond is somewhat similar to the 
peach in manner of growth and character 
of blossoms and leaves. The wood, how- 
ever, is much harder and under similar 
conditions the tree is much longer 
lived. The useful life of the almond at 
Orland is rather indeterminate, there be- 
ing project orchards 40 to 45 yeais of 
age, which are still producing profitable 
crops under proper cultuial methods. A 
peculiar characteristic of the tree is its 
very short period of winter dormancy, 
it being among the last of the deciduous 
trees to shed its leaves in the fall and the 
first to start growth and come into bloom 
in the spring. 

SOIL REQUIREMENTS 

The soil requirements of the almond 
are those of depth, fertility, and good 



By R. C. E. Weber, Superintendent 

drainage, both surface and subsurface. 
The drainage requirement is particularly 
essential and for this reason the gravelly 
loam soils of the Orland project are best 
adapted and are most extensively utilized 
for raising almonds. The moderate win- 
ter temperatures prevailing at Orland 
especially during February and March 
the blossoming period during which the 
crop is most susceptible to injury from 
low temperatures render the industry 
practically free from frost damage with- 
out resorting to expensive smudging oper- 
ations, quite generally necessary for the 
successful production of almonds elsewhere 
in California. Under proper pruning for 
protection against sunburn, together with 
an adequate water supply, the almond 
flourishes in the high summer temperatures 
prevailing in the Sacramento Valley. 

An abundant supply of humus in the 
soil is essential for the successful pro- 
duction of almonds, and for this reason the 
best trees on the project are on areas, 
which, prior to planting almonds, were 
devoted to alfalfa. For the growing trees, 
the natural and volunteer cover crops, 
consisting of native grasses, such as burr 
clover and filerie, which flourish during 
the winter and spring months, supply the 
required humus, although the use of 
barnyard manure is desirable, especially 
on the more gravelly class of soil. 



BLOSSOMING AND POLLINATION 

The blossoming period of the almond on 
the project is during the latter part of 
February and continues into the first 
week or 10 days of March. Unlike the 
typical deciduous fruit tree, the almond 
is rather distinctive in that the blossom 
precedes the appearance of the leaves. 
For this reason, an almond orchard in 
full bloom presents an attractive picture 
of solid white blossoms. Setting of the 
blossoms in the form of the almond soon 
follows blossoming and pollination. To 
obtain cross-pollination, it is necessary to 
plant different varieties in alternate rows 
throughout the orchard with the wind 
and bees (mainly the latter) acting as the 
principle agencies for disseminating and 
intermixing the pollen of the several 
varieties. This period of blossoming 
and development of the young nut is most 
critical and is the time when the crop is 
most susceptible to injury by frost. In 
this connection, adequate air drainage 
plays an important part in bringing the 
young buds safely through the critical 
stage. Orchards in the Orland project, by 
reason of their location upon the delta 
cone of Stony Creek at a slight but dis- 
tinctly advantageous elevation above the 
general level of the floor of the Sacramento 
Valley, are less susceptible to frost damage, 




A I "i-llioli! ii-it 



,1 in ond orchard , Orland project, California 



40 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



Mai eh, 1929 



as the colder, and consequently heavier, 
air drains away to the lower surrounding 
levels. 

There are about 60 different varieties 
of almonds, which are classified into 2 
. general kinds the hard and the paper 
shell. There are some 20 kinds of almonds 
listed among those raised for experimental 
purposes at the University of California 
farm at Davis, Calif. The leading va- 
rieties, however, produced on the Orland 
project are the NePlus, I. X. L., Nonpa- 
reil, Drake, Texas, and Peerless. 

IRRIGATION AND CULTURE 

The irrigation requirements of almonds 
on the project are relatively small, from 
t wo to three irrigations during the summer 
being sufficient to produce crops, provided 
the orchard is plowed and cultivated in 
the spring in time to conserve the moisture 
from the winter precipitation. For the 
most part, orchards are irrigated by the 
furrow system. It is important to culti- 
vate after each irrigation in order to 
produce a top mulch of the soil, which 
conserves the moisture and reduces the 
number of irrigations during the summer. 
Spraying is essentially necessary for the 
control of insect pests, the worst of which 
is the red spider with which the almond 
grower is regularly confronted. A liquid 
spray of lime and sulphur is most generally 
used on project orchards. Pruning is 
required annually to provide not only 
adequate shade as protection against 
sunburn but also to admit sufficient sun- 
light into the interior branches of the tree 
for a uniform and maximum yield of nuts. 
Almonds are fully matured and ready for 
harvesting during the latter part of July 
or early in August. 

HARVESTING AND HULLING 

A typical arrangement for the harvest- 
ing of almonds at Orland is that of a 




A bunch of ripe almonds, Orland project 



canvas, attached to a sled which is drawn 
through the orchard by a team. The 
canvas area is sufficient in extent to 
include the entire spread of one tree and 
is divided into two sections to permit its 
being laid on each side of the trunk of the 
tree with sufficient overlap at the seam. 
The nuts are knocked from the branches 
by means of light poles. A new and 
recent development in this operation con- 
sists of a heavy rubber club or mallet with 
which the limbs are tapped without 
damage to the bark of the tree, thus 
jarring the nuts from the branches quite 
rapidly. After the almonds are knocked, 
the loose ends of the two sections of the 
canvas are folded up with the nuts rolling 
ahead of the canvas thus folded until 
they reach the sled, where they are shoveled 
into sacks. 



After harvesting, the almonds and the 
hulls (inclosing the nuts) are taken to the 
huller where the hulls are separated from 
the nuts. A huller represents a consider- 
able outlay of expenditure and for this 
reason it is impossible for every grower to 
have his own huller. There are, how- 
ever, a number of hullers in the Orland 
vicinity where the smaller grower can 
have his almonds hulled at a reasonable 
cost. Immediately after hulling, the nuts 
are spread in trays and exposed to the 
sun for drying. The dry summer heat 
of the Sacramento Valley accomplishes 
the drying operation in a few days, 
after which the nuts are sacked and 
ready for shipment. Shipment is made 
by rail in carload lots, each car contain- 
ing from 55,000 to 65,000 pounds of 
nuts. 



Growth of the almond industry, Orland project, California 



Year 


Area in 
acres 


Yield in pounds 


Production values 


Current 
year 


Total to 
date 


Per acre 


Per pound 


Current 
year 


Total to 
date 


Per acre 


Current year 


Aver- 
age to 
date 


Cur- 
rent 
year 


Aver- 
age to 
date 


Current 
year 


Average 
to date 


Maxi- 
mum 


Mini- 
mum 


Aver- 
age 


1914 


90 
130 
180 
161 
266 
303 
513 
760 
957 
1,119 
1,125 
1,153 
1,189 
1,195 
1,222 


65,000 
72,900 
98,900 
30,960 
108,400 
151,500 
140,000 
234,500 
287, 960 
374,250 
228,850 
195, 780 
574, 490 
497,000 
525,000 


65,000 
137,900 
236,800 
267, 760 
374, 160 
525,660 
IV',-,, fifiO 
900, 160 
1, 188, 120 
1, 562, 370 
1, 791, 220 
1, 987, 000 
2, 561, 490 
3, OSS, 490 
3, 582, 490 


1,010 
800 
1,066 
600 
1,000 
1. 100 
800 
1,500 
2,100 
2,000 
1,500 
1,140 
1, 250 
1,000 
1,334 


200 
100 
110 
40 
80 
150 
100 
50 
40 
25 

0) 

(') 

66 
(') 
(') 


721 
561 
618 
192 
400 
500 
275 
308 
300 
335 
203 
170 
483 
418 
430 


721 
627 
623 
491 
463 
474 
410 
377 
356 
351 
321 
295 
323 
335 
346 


$0.168 
.103 
.165 
.170 
.225 
.300 
.200 
.200 
.175 
.150 
.110 
.220 
.210 
.200 
.190 


$0. 168 
.134 
. 147 
.150 
. 171 
.20S 
.206 
.204 
.197 
.186 
.176 
.180 
.187 
.189 
.189 


$10, 922 
7, SI 2 
16, 324 
S. 263 
23,940 
4.1. 450 
28,000 
46, 900 
50,393 
56,138 
25, 174 
43, 072 
120, 643 
99.409 
99,750 


$10,922 
18. 434 
34, 758 
40,021 
63,961 
109,411 
137,411 
184,311 
234, 704 
290,842 
316,016 
3W. OSS 
479, 731 
579, 140 
678,890 


$121. 35 
57.78 
102.02 
32. l 
90.00 
150. 00 
54.60 
61. 60 
52.70 
50.20 
22.40 
37.40 
101.47 
83.18 
81.63 


$121. a.! 
83.80 
91. 30 
74. 10 
7'.). 20 
98.60 
84.70 
77.30 
70.30 
65.20 
56.70 
53. 30 
60.53 
63.50 
65.65 


1915 


1916 


1917 


1918 


1910 


1920 


1921 


1922. 


1923 


1924 


1925.. 


1926 . _ 


1927 .. 


1928.. 





' No crop. 



March, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



41 



MARKETING 

The marketing of the Orland almonds i 
mainly through the medium of a loca 
association, which is a branch of the Cal 
ifornia Almond Growers' Exchange, 
state-wide cooperative organization en 
gaged in marketing the major portion o 
the almonds produced in California. Th 
expansion of the exchange is worthy o 
mention. Beginning operations in 191C 
and consisting of 9 local associations with 
a membership of 230 growers, the initia 
business was started on a $1,000 capital 
At the present time, the exchange com 
prises 22 local associations with 3,600 
members and has property investments 
valued at $500,000, the largest item of 
which is the Sacramento, Calif., plant to 
which Orland almonds are shipped. There 
the almonds are prepared for the trade in 
a variety of forms, both shelled and un- 
shelled, under the Blue Diamond Branc 
trade-mark of the exchange. 

Almonds constitute by far the largesl 
rop in point of acreage produced on the 
Orland project. In 1928, there were 
1,222 acres of producing trees reported 
in the project crop census. Apricots 
follow next with 621 acres of bearing 
trees. Almonds constitute nearly one- 
third of the project acreage devoted to 
orchards. The present acreage represents 
the development of the almond industry 
since 1912, at which time there were 77J^ 
acres of bearing trees on the project. 
These were then mature trees, which had 
been producing fairly profitable crops 
under dry-farming methods together with 
such irrigation water as was available from 
the natural flow of Stony Creek, which was 
usually depleted early in July. To the 
irrigation supply afforded by the project 
system, the trees responded with larger 
and surer crops. The expansion of the 
acreage to its present proportions is the 
direct result of the construction of the 
project irrigation works. The growth of 
the industry on the project is represented 
by the statistics contained in the accom- 
panying table. 

COS'/ 1 OF DEVELOPMENT 

A producing almond grove on the 
Orland project is valued at $550 to $750 
per acre, the variation being due to loca- 
tion of the property as well as the quality 
of the soil, and the condition and age of 
the trees. Thh valuation ib derived from 
the following computation relative to the 
cost of bringing an almond orchard into 
bearing, in connection with which the 
following basic assumptions are made: 

Interest on investment, 6 per cent. 

Six years' time in which to bring trees into profitable 
bearing, during which the average annual cost per 
acre (exclusive of interest on investment) is: 



Construction and operation and maintenance 

charges _. $5. OC 

Taxes 2. 5C 

Pruning and spraying.. 6.0C 

Spring plowing and cultivating 3.5 

Summer irrigating and culture . 15. OC 



Total _ 32. OC 

Original investment per acre 

Cost of unimproved land _ 125. OC 

Cost of land leveling and farm irrigation struc- 
tures and laterals _ 40. OC 

Cost of trees (average 75 per acre) 15. OC 

Cost of planting __ . 12. OC 



Total. 192. (X 

Investment at end of first year 

Original investment 192. OC 

Current year's operating cost 32. OC 

Interest on original investment . 11.52 



Total 235.52 

Investment at end of second year 

Investment at beginning of year _ 235. 52 

Current year's operating cost 32. 00 

Interest on investment at beginning of year 14.13 



Total _ _. 281.65 

Investment at end of third year 

Investment at beginning of year 281.65 

Current year's operating cost _. 32.00 

Interest on investment at beginning of year 16. 90 



Total 330.55 

Investment at end of fourth year 

Investment at beginning of year ._ 330. 55 

Current year's operating cost 32. 00 

Interest on investment at beginning of year 19. 83 



Total 382.38 

Investment at end of fifth year 

Investment at beginning of year 382.38 

Current year's operating cost 32.00 

Interest on investment at beginning of year 22. 94 



Total.. 437.32 

Investment at end of sixth tear 

Investment at beginning of year 437. 32 

Current year's operating cost _. 32.00 

Interest on investment at beginning of year 26. 24 



Total 495.86 

Elements of costs entering into the 
production of almonds are contained in 
the accompanying table: 



Items of cost 



Spring plowing and cultivating 

runing and spraying 

Summer irrigating and culture 

larvesting and hulling 

lauling to cars (Orland) 
Construction and operation and 
maintenance charges 



per cent interest on $500 valuation. 
Total... 



Amount 



Per 
acre 



$4.00 
10.00 
17.50 
40.00 
2.50 

5.00 

2.50 

30.00 



111.50 



Per 

hun- 
dred- 
weight 
of al- 
monds 



$0.40 

1.00 

1.75 

4.00 

.25 

.50 

.25 

3.00 



11.15 



In connection with the above tabulation 
the average yield of a mature orchard in 
prime bearing and operated under proper 
farming methods is assumed to be 1,000 
pounds per acre. The cost of marketing 
through the cooperative marketing or- 
ganization (approximately 3 cents per 
pound) is not included in the foregoing 
table, as it is deducted by the exchange 
from the amount otherwise due the grower. 
Applying a price of 19 cents which growers 
receive (after deduction of exchange 
selling charges), the gross return is $190 
per acre against a production and carry- 
ing cost of $111.50 per acre, leaving a net 
profit of $78.50 per acre. This represents 
the returns which may reasonably be an- 
ticipated in connection with the growing 
of almonds from thrifty orchards, intelli- 
gently farmed to obtain the maximum 
yields, which may be produced from the 
combination of natural climatic and soil 
conditions at Orland, together with the ir- 
rigation facilities afforded by the project 
works of the Bureau of Reclamation, 



The Making and 

Feeding of Silage 

Silage is the best and cheapest form in 
which to store succulent feed. Many 
forage crops can be made into silage, but 
corn, where it can be grown successfully, 
makes the best silage. 

Silage is suited for feeding to all live- 
stock. Dairy cows, not on good pasture, 
need it perhaps more than other classes of 
animals, because the succulence it sup- 
plies is helpful in the production of large 
quantities of milk. It is a cheap and 
economical feed for beef cattle, from 
breeding cow to fattening steer. Sheep 
like it and it is well suited to their needs. 
Even horses and mules may be fed limited 
quantities of good silage with good 
results. 

A method of making silage, known as 
the Ronning method, has come into use in 
the last few years, and is considered the 
easiest known method of making silage. 
The standing corn is harvested and cut 
nto proper lengths for the silo by a 
machine drawn and operated by a tractor. 
The cut corn is delivered to a wagon box 
drawn alongside. It is then hauled to 
he silo and pushed off into a blower 
which elevates it into the silo. When a 
pit silo is used the work of filling is still 
ess. Making silage by the Ronning 
method requires approximately the same 
size crew as when a harvester and bundle 
levator are used, but the advantage lies 
n saving the labor of handling the heavy 
Bundles. 

More details will be found in Farmers' 
Bulletin No. 578-F. 



42 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



March, 1929 



Fruit Production and Orchard Development, Tieton Division, Yafyma 

Project, Washington 



T^HE following are the results of an 
analysis I started several years ago 
and extended to date bearing on the or- 
chard development on the Tieton division 
of the Yakima project, Washington, and 
covering such items as the acreage, yield, 
value, etc., as taken from the crop reports 
beginning with the first census in 1912. 

The accompanying tables give, for each 
year, statistics on fruits and also similar 
data for all other crops for the same period. 
The first table deals with the cropped 
acreages, including percentages of the 
total and average yields per acre. The 
second shows total production and total 
net values with corresponding percentages 
of the total crop value. 

The areas in hay and cereals have 
dropped off rapidly during the past 3 to 
10 years, the former showing the larger 
reduction from 47.4 per cent of the total 
gross area in 1920 to only 18 per cent in 
1928. The resultant increase is due en- 
tirely to the area in fruit, which reached a 
maximum of 54.2 per cent of the total in 
1928. The value of the returns on this 
1928 acreage also bears a maximum rela- 



By J. S. Moore, Superintendent of Irrigation 

tion of 86.7 per cent to the total value of 
all crops grown. 

The gross area in bearing orchard has 
increased with more or less regularity to 
a total of 13,565 acres in 1928. The total 
yield produced on this area amounted to 
slightly less than 160,000,000 pounds 
during the past season. Production has 
practically doubled in the 6-year period 
since 1922. 

The total net value reached a maximum 
in 1927 amounting to $2,858,859. Atten- 
tion is especially directed to the regularity 
with which the value varies inversely with 
the yield starting with the year 1922. It 
would appear that production on the 
Tieton division had increased by 1922 to 
a point where it had some bearing on the 
price, the large yields tending to lower 
returns. An inverse statement probably 
expresses the situation more accurately. 
When there is a slight reduction in yield 
on the Tieton, the crop over the country 
is short and a high price is the result. 
This is particularly marked by the sharp 
rise in the total value in both 1924 and 
1927, the only times that the Tieton ex- 



perienced a slight reduction in yield over 
the previous season. In each instance the 
reduction was caused by late spring frosts 
that undoubtedly hit most other orchard 
sections of the country, at least in the 
Northwest, harder than here. For both 
years the production graph on the blue 
print dropped below the curve of acreage, 
indicating average yields running lower 
than 10,000 pounds per acre. From the 
above we are almost forced to the con- 
clusion that under present conditions the 
Tieton orchardists will have their more 
prosperous years when the crop is light, 
as the relatively higher prices obtained 
more than offset the reduced yields. 

The relation between the vertical 
scales of acreage and value is $200, thus 
indicating an average yield in excess of 
$200 per acre (gross), where the points 
representing value fall above those of 
area, as in 1924, 1925, and 1927. The 
record of value is taken direct from the 
crop reports for the years 1924 to 1928, 
inclusive, which were prepared on the 
revised basis excluding the cost of grading, 
packing, containers, etc., and for 1912, 



Summary of cropped areas and average yields, Tieton division, 191Z-19Z8 
(a) Gross area in crop. (6) Average yields per acre in tons for hay and forage, in bushels for cereals and potatoes, and in pounds for fruits. 



Year 


Hay and forage 


Cereals 


Fruits 


Potatoes 


Pasture 
and mis- 
cellaneous 


Gross 
area 
cropped 


Al- 
falfa 


Other 
hay 


Fod- 
der, 
etc. 


Total 


Per 

cent 
of 
total 


Bar- 
ley 


Corn 


Oats 


Wheat 


Total 


Per 
cent 
of 
total 


Ap- 
ples 


Apri- 
cots' 


Peaches 


Pears 


Prunes' 


Small 
fruits 


Total 


Per 
cent 
of 

Itotal 


Acre 


Per 
cent 
of 

total 


Acre 


Per 

cent 
of 

total 


1912. (a) 
(6) 
1913. (a) 

|w 

1914. (a) 
j 
1915. (a) 
On 
1916.(aj 
(W 
1917.CC) 

1918. (a) 
( 

1919.(a) 
( 
1920. (8) 
(6) 
1921. (a) 

1922. (a) 
(W 
1923. (a) 
(0) 
1924. (a) 
(W 
1925. (a) 

m 

1926. (a) 
< 
1927. (a 
(6 
1928. (a 
(6 


2,612 
2.5 
3,284 
3.4 
5,370 
3.5 
6,740 
3.5 
8,425 
3.2 
10,529 
3.1 
12,218 
3.3 
14, 130 
3.4 
15, 118 
3.2 
13, 350 
3.1 
11,300 
3.0 
10,275 
3.0 
9,610 
2.7 
6,780 
2.5 
5,650 
2.6 
4,725 
2.7 
3,820 
2.6 


1,372 
1.4 
1,815 
1.9 
1,270 
2.1 
1,105 
2.0 
1,377 
1.7 
729 
1.5 
493 
1.6 
599 
1.6 
415 
1.5 
S620 
1.3 
470 
1.5 
614 
1.5 
520 
1.3 
500 
1.6 
677 
1.3 
514 
1.5 
510 
1.5 




3,984 


40.7 




765 
37.0 


8 


1 


1,627 


16.6 












211 


211 


2.2 


3,817 
117 


39.0 


151 


1.5 


9,70 
















195 
3.7 
140 
8.0 
100 
8.0 
403 
5.0 
248 
8.7 
370 
11.0 
432 
8.8 
275 
7.5 
291 
8.6 
252 
10.8 
237 
9.5 
402 
6.9 
368 
7.6 
251 
8.4 
268 
6.3 
165 
6.3 


5,294< 39.4 


136 
34.2 
500 
28.0 
600 
44.0 
884 
31.0 
781 
21.2 
886 
24.3 
727 
28.0 
1,012 
31.9 
635 
31.9 
529 
20.3 
453 
33.4 


1,088 
26.1 
1,522 
29.5 
1,350 
32.0 
1,155 
47.0 
603 
37.3 
728 
43.0 
1,230 
35.7 
885 
41.3 
724 
36.7 
750 
41.2 
934 
37.6 
1,020 
35.4 
1,230 
38.8 
783 
31.0 
695 
32.7 
520 
35.2 


1,130 
21.0 
740 
41.0 
700 
45.0 
1,283 
54.0 
604 
32.0 
306 
34.8 
346 
32.1 
389 
34.0 
352 
32.4 
228 
34.3 
300 
44.0 
271 
39.8 
340 
36.5 
132 
35.7 
135 
45.2 
110 
53.0 


345 
32.4 
1,125 
21.0 
2,560 
25.0 
2,522 
27.0 
3,912 
20.9 
4,681 
21.2 
3,230 
24.6 
2,873 
27.5 
2,442 
27.1 
2,052 
23.1 
1,618 
30.0 
1,278 
23.4 
1,805 
31.3 
1,825 
26.1 
1,342 
31.1 
1,550 
29.3 


2,699 


20.0 


394 
3,710 





168 
5,450 
215 
7,200 
375 
5,500 
383 
5,600 
362 
3,716 
448 
5,760 
647 
6,790 
590 
1,720 
534 
6,755 
537 
6,195 
592 
7,755 
540 
3,180 
685 
6,730 
890 
6,933 
827 
2,932 
1,050 
9,713 


75 
1,410 
140 
2,700 
310 
1,420 
680 
2,210 
674 
2,593 
1,276 
3,475 
1,434 
2,630 
1,737 
2,785 
1,574 
3,500 
1,573 
4,550 
1,620 
5,920 
1,772 
4,935 
1,720 
3, 740 
2,310 
6,543 
2,408 
3,256 
2,881 
7,234 




33 
2,630 
32 
2,050 
33 
2,600 
24 
1,565 


670 


5.0 


3,700 
97 


27.5 


1,095 


8.1 


13,458 




6,780 



41.5 


3,887 


23.8 


620 
4,400 







1,007 


6.1 


3,380 
120 


20.7 


1,299 


7.9 


16,353 




7,945 


41.1 


5,210 

~5," 844 
~5,~ 900 


27.0 
~24.~ 8 
"20." 8 


1,550 
2,500 
3,109 
4,000 
5,275 
4,025 







2,268 


11.7 


2,200 
140 


11.4 


1,701 


8.8 


19,325 




10,205 

ii,"506 


43.2 
~40.~7 




4,196 


17.8 1,350 
145 


5.7 


1,995 


8.5 


23,590 






47 
3,125 
88 
2,960 
146 
2,270 
220 
2,115 
215 
2,320 
210 
3,345 
273 
3,900 
350 
3,180 
283 
4,660 


6,358 


22.4 1,636 
174 


5.8 


2, 930 10. 3 


28,330 




13,081 


41.2 


6,601 


20.8 


6,600 
5,050 







8,412 


26.7 1,060 
184 


3.3 


2,556 8.0 


31, 710 




15, 161 


46.1 


5,533 


16.8 


6,932 
7,090 







9,159 


27. 8i 830 
142 


2.5 


2, 237 6. 8 


32,920 




15,808 

ii'iei 

i2,"022 


47.4 
"45." 3 
~40.~9 


5,159 
"4," 153 
~3,~ 559 


15.4 

~iO 
"ii'i 


7,134 
7,360 
7,160 
8,220 
7,180 
9,850 






9,681 


29. 812 
1B7 


2.4 


1, 950! 5. 8 


33,410 










9,483 


30.4 


1,410 
175 


4.5 


2, 019 6. 5 


31,226 









9,500 


32.3 


1,713 
198 


5.8 


2, 626 8. 9 


29,420 




11, 126 


39.4 


3,305 
3," 023 


11.7 
~i6.~9 


7,140 
12,275 
7,160 
11,400 






9,625 34.6 


1,293 
190 


4.6 


2,901! 10.3 


28,250 






10, 532 


37. 8: 454 
1 26.3 






9,822 35.3 


907 

187 


3.3 


3, 531 12. 7 


27,815 






7,648 


29.8 


522 
34.2 
300 
22.3 
324 
26.3 
280 
33.1 


3,897 


15.2 


7,105 
12,410 
7,495 
13, 393 
8,225 
11,479 
8,590 
14, 368 


192 
4,480 
360 
4,492 
423 
1,659 
595 
4,360 





9,985 


38.8 


905 
270 


3.5 


3, 275 1 12. 7 25, 710 


6,578 


25.3 


3,040 


11.7 


240 
4,500 
279 
5,111 
243 
5,666 


150 
5,022 
146 
3,849 
206 
4,596 


il,445 


44.0 


1,805 
190 


6.9 


3, 132 12. 1 


28,000 


5,507 21.fi 


2,496 


9.8 


12,308 48.2 


2, 440l 9. 6 
229 


2, 749 10. 8 


25,500 


4,495 


18.0 


2,460 


9.8 


13,565 54.2 


1,780 
194 


7.1 


2, 700 10. 9 


25,000 
















1 





1 Included in small fruits prior to 1925. 



1 Included in small fruits prior to 1926. 



March, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



43 



30,000 
20.000 

10.000 
2,000 




300 6.0 
260 5.6 

2 GO 5.2 
240 4.8 

220 4.4 

in 
K 

2003 4.0 

8 

180 3.6 

l/l 
Z 
160 2 3.2 

_j 






1 1 
















































J 


EXPLANATION 

LINE OF PROBABLE MAXIMUM YIELD 
COMBINED AREA IN BEARING (GROSS) 
AND NON-BEARING (NET) ORCHARD 
ESTIMATED GROSS AREA IN BEARING 
TOTAL NET VALUE 
TOTAL YIELD 
GROSS AREA IN BEARING ORCHARD 












































































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DIAGRAM SHOWING 
















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ORCHARD DEVELOPMENT 














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TIETON DJVISION 














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19 



12 


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19 


15 






















































1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 



1913, and 1914, while for the other years 
from 1915 to 1923, inclusive, use was 
made of the tabulation of crop data as 
revised and corrected to correspond 'with 
the present basis of reckoning for con- 
sideration by the Board of Survey and 
Adjustments in May, 1925. 

As a preliminary to attempting a 
forecast the increases in acreage of 
bearing orchard for the next few years 
I have combined the figures for gross area 
in bearing with the area in nonbearing 
orchard for the same year, the latter being, 
however, on a net basis, and plotted the 



graph at the top. This shows a total of 
20,065 acres for 1928. The estimated 
gross area in bearing orchard is then ar- 
rived at by advancing six years along the 
horizontal scale and increasing the total 
areas by 25 per cent of the nonbearing 
portion, which is taken on a net basis, in 
order to reduce to gross figures compar- 
able with the graph of acreage in bearing. 
The 6-year period is taken as being a fair 
general average to allow for all fruits to 
reach the bearing stage. The 25 per 
cent increase eliminates the duplication 
of two kinds of nonbearing fruit on the 



same area of ground and at the same time 
allows for reduction in area due to re- 
moval of fillers and the poorer varieties 
as well as those orchards in districts 
more subject to frost. 

By this process the estimated gross 
area of bearing orchard for 1934 is found 
to be 21,690 acres. It may develop, 
however, that the duplication will be 
reduced during the next few years at a 
higher rate than heretofore through the 
removal of a larger area of soft fruit 
fillers from the older apple orchards, in 
which event the total by 1934 would 
probably fall somewhere between 20,000 
and 21,690 acres. The low point in 
the curve of estimated area for the year 
1923 is not clearly understood. I have 
attributed the departure from the actual 
at this point and probably in 1920, 1922, 
and 1927 to errors or omissions in the 
record of nonbearing orchard for 1914, 
1916, 1917, and 1921 on which they are 
based in the order of occurrence. 

The nonbearing acreage is given to- 
gether with the bearing and the total for 
each year, as follows: 

Bearing and nonbearing acreage, 191S-19S8 



Year 



1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919. 

1920 

1921 

1922 

1923 

1924 

1925 

1926... 

1927.. 12,308 

1928 13,565 



Bearing 



211 
670 
1,007 
2,268 
4,196 
6,358 
8,412 
9,159 
9,681 
9,483 
9,500 
9,625 
9,822 
9,985 
11,445 



Non- 
bearing 



6,295 
6,740 
6,280 
5,840 
3,645 
1,520 
745 
650 
950 
1,442 
3,190 
4,725 
5,355 
6,800 
7,295 
6,555 
6,500 



Total 



6,506 
7,410 
7,287 
8,108 
7,841 
7,878- 
9,157 
9,809 
10,631 
10,925 
12,690 
14,350 
15, 177 
16,785- 
18, 740 
18,863 
20,065 



Summary of total crop yields and values, Tieton division, 1918 to 1928 



Year 


Hay and forage 


Cereals 


Fruits 


Potatoes 


Pasture and 
miscellaneous 


Value 


Total 
yield 


Value 


Per 

cent of 
total 


Total 
yeild 


Value 


Per 

cent of 
total 


Total yeild 


Value 


Per 

cent of 
total 


Total 
yield 


Value 


Per 

cent of 
total 


Value 


Per 
cent of 
total 


Total 


Average 
per acre 


1912... 
1913 
1914 
1915 


Ton* 
8,389 
15,560 
22,620 
26,251 
31,523 
35, 491 
45,699 
52, 345 
50,672 
44,194 
38,458 
33,583 
29,072 
20,457 
17,609 
15, 018 
11,582 


$62,800 
107, 616 
134, 920 
67, 432 
166, 909 
445,729 
654,456 
879, 510 
499,061 
177, 777 
183,284 
231,295 
223,314 
201, 111 
166,201 
140, 518 
109,684 


23.1 
25.4 
28.4 
14.5 
24.8 
32.0 
34.1 
27.4 
20.3 
8.0 
11.1 
14.7 
7.0 
6.7 
8.1 
4.2 
3.9 


Bushelt 
66,270 
67,991 
112,950 
164,580 
240, 170 
139, 944 
162,888 
154, 949 
161, 034 
124, 424 
96, 940 
112,035 
88,782 
134, 529 
83,399 
79,028 
78, 775 


$29,000 
39, 719 
82, 030 
105, 650 
175,112 
207, 214 
268, 636 
273,005 
215, 215 
86,835 
80,043 
80,247 
89,087 
131, 682 
83,344 
73, 821 
71,869 


10.7 
9.4 
17.3 
22.8 
26.1 
14.8 
14.0 
8.5 
8.8 
3.9 
4.8 
5.1 
2.8 
4.3 
4.0 
2.2 
2.6 


Pounds 
1, 719, 000 
2, 586, 505 
4, 730, 400 
6, 475, 500 
15, 859, 350 
24, 474, 122 
40,612,570 
57, 625, 545 
58, 849, 985 
68, 470, 108 
81, 895, 095 
102, 891, 572 
93, 251, 530 
101,392,948 
125,115,130 
107, 363, 703 
159, 376, 275 


$23,400 
45, 719 
69,460 
105, 122 
85,584 
317, 054 
679, 831 
1, 739, 872 
1,411,646 
1, 668, 837 
1, 187, 729 
1, 052, 091 
2, 684, 775 
2, 246, 190 
1, 399, 624 
2,858,859 
2, 405, 531 


8.6 
10.8 
14.7 
22.7 
12.7 
22.7 
35.5 
54.2 
57.3 
75.1 
71.6 
67.2 
84.0 
74.2 
67.9 
84.7 
86.7 


Buthelt 
447,300 
408,200 
400,400 
301,800 
196, 300 
284,275 
195,866 
117, 700 
127, 875 
247,286 
339,825 
246,108 
169, 230 
244,167 
342, 125 
557, 917 
344,800 


$113,630 
168, 158 
120,120 
105, 630 
137, 550 
198, 992 
146,899 
135, 355 
108,694 
148, 372 
110,443 
98, 443 
93,076 
317,417 
307, 912 
200, S50 
103,440 


41.7 
39.8 
25.4 
22.8 
20.4 
14.3 
7.7 
4.2 
4.4 
6.7 
6.7 
6. 3 
2.9 
10.5 
15.0 
5.9 
3.7 


$43,240 
61, 738 
67,060 
79,524 
107, 629 
226,024 
166, 367 
182,309 
227,349 
140, 433 
95,866 
105,522 
104, 571 
128,901 
102, 874 
99,808 
85,249 


15.9 
14.6 
14.2 
17.2 
16.0 
16.2 
8.7 
6.7 
9.2 
6.3 
5.8 
6.7 
3.3 
4.3 
5.0 
3.0 
3.1 


$272, 070 
422,950 
473, 590 
463,358 
672,784 
1,395,013 
1, 916, 189 
3, 210, 051 
2,461,965 
2,222,254 
1, 657, 365 
1, 567, 598 
3, 194, 823 
3, 025, 301 
2, 059, 955 
3, 379, 856 
2, 775, 770 


$28.00 
33.60 
29.75- 
25.60 
32.04 
57.11 
74.14 
122.05 
90.63 
81.70 
62.78 
61.35 
130.16- 
130.97 
89.18 
150.22 
124.75- 


1916 


1917 


1918 
1919 
1920 
1921 
1922 
1923 
1924 
1925 
1926 


1927 


1928 



NOTE. Values for 1912, 1913, and 1914 are gross figures; those for 1915 to 1923 are revised to conform to the method used in the original reports for the years 1924 to 1928, 
Inclusive, i. e., excluding the cost of grading, packing, storing, and containers. 

( Continued on page 44) 



44 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



March, 1929 



Dairy Show on the Belle Fourche Project, South Dakota 



T^HE first project dairy show held at 
Newell, S. Dak., on January 6 to 16, 
1ms added a new feature to stimulate the 
development of this important branch 
of irrigation farming. The 7-day test 
of 1 1 selected milk cows of various breeds, 
conducted under uniform feeding and 
suitable housing conditions, has clearly 
demonstrated that a good cow is a source 
of profit and that testing of the herd is 
necessary to weed out the boarders and 
bring the real producers to the front. 

The show closed with a big meeting 
and banquet on the 16th attended by 



Orchard Development on 
Tieton Division 

(Continued from page 43) 

The record of the areas of nonbearing 
orchard of different ages, as taken for the 
first time in connection with the 1928 
census, is as follows : 

Nonbearing orchard acreage, by age of trees 



Age 


Apples, 
gross 


Soft 
fruit, 
net 


Total 


1 


717 


743 


1,460 


2 


456 


644 


1. 100 


3 


928 


1,314 


2,242 


4 


616 


684 


1,300 


5 


502 


183 


685 


6 or over 


214 


64 


278 












3,433 


3,632 


7,055 



The gross area in bearing is seen to 
have increased little during the 7-year 
period from 1919 to 1925. This is due to 
a decline in the planting of young orchard 
during the period of high prices for hay, 
grain, and other general farm crops be- 
ginning about the year 1916. A rapid 
increase had been made during the 7 
years preceding this period, and it is a 
striking coincidence that the graph indi- 
cates a break in the present high rate of 
increase at the end of the third 7-year 
period in 1932. 

It necessarily follows that the acreage 
must begin to taper off before many 
years after the more desirable lands are 
planted to fruit and as the ultimate area 
is approached. It is estimated that this 
ultimate gross area will be about 27,000 
acres. The production on this acreage is 
largely a matter of guess, but it will 
undoubtedly amount to from two to two 
and one-half times the total for the past 
year. In any event the development of 
the orchards on this division will continue 
to be of interest for a number of vears. 



By F. C. Youngblult, Superintendent 

some 250 guests. A free picture show in 
the evening brought entertainment to 
the crowd and furnished instructive 
lessons on means of improving the dairy 
herds. Speakers of prominence took 
part in both the afternoon and evening 
programs to stress some advantageous 
feature of dairying as it relates to con- 
ditions on the irrigation project. W. D. 
Buchholz, acting as toastmaster, wel- 
corned the guests and expressed apprecia- 
' tion of the cooperation received from the 
various project towns, the Chicago & 
North Western Railway Co., and others 
who helped to make the show a success. 
A letter of regret from Dr. Elwood Mead, 
Commissioner of Reclamation, was read 
and also one from State Secretary of 
Agriculture Crill, who were unable to 
be present. 

MARKET BULKY CROPS THROUGH THE 

COW 

Dean Larsen of the State Agricultural 
College spoke of his occasional visits to 
this section and complimented the people 
on their community spirit and their 
ability to stick together for the develop- 
ment of agriculture which in 25 years has 
grown from the raw prairie to intensive 
farming, including beet raising, alfalfa, 
and livestock activities of no small propor- 
tion. The right grade of cow, he observed, 
is the proper machine for marketing 
bulky crops, especially in this section 



where feeds are relatively cheap and 
where pastures are kept green by means of 
irrigation. Feed plenty and feed a 
balanced ration, was his advice, especially 
in the winter when cows are deprived of 
green pastures. Man selects his fats, 
starches, and fruits according to seasons 
and to his tastes, but a cow must obtain 
the necessary balance from the limited 
variety placed in the manger. Professor 
Larsen dealt with supply and demand 
which affect many of our farm products 
adversely. In the case of milk, butter, 
and cheese, however, there is an increas- 
ing importation which insures market 
stability and good prices. Cows should 
freshen in the fall, he stated, when other 
farm work is not pressing, so that the 
herd can be given the needed extra at- 
tention and the farmers will have the 
benefit of winter prices. 

INCREASE THE CREAM CHECKS 

The Chicago & North Western Railway 
Co. assisted the show both financially 
and through the presence of their repre- 
sentatives. H. E. Dickinson, general 
manager of lines west of the Missouri 
River, together with his staff, spent 
several days in Newell in the interest of 
dairying and to meet the people of the 
valley who deliver to this transportation 
company about 20,000 cans of cream per 
year. In addressing the gathering Mr. 




Newell Dairy Show. Holstein, second place; Ayrshire, third place; Guernsey, fifth place 



March, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



45 



Dickinson stated that cream business 
provided a regular daily income to the 
railroad company the same as to indi- 
viduals and expressed his desire to co- 
operate in promoting any line of endeavor 
that would be of benefit in building up 
the agriculture of this section. He 
urged the purchase of purebre 1 sires as a 
means of building up the dairy herd 
rather than to invest heavily in the pur- 
chase of unacclimated cows. 

C. H. McNie, of the livestock shipping 
department of the Northwestern, and Mr. 
Weger, of the dairying dapartment, spoke 
briefly of the need of every farmer engag- 
ing in some livestock activity in order to 
keep up soil fertility. A balanced ration 
for the land is just as important as 
balanced rations for the cows, said Mr. 
McNie. 

D. B. Pratt, manager of the Utah- 
Idaho Sugar Co., stressed the fertility 
requirements for growing sugar beets and 
how dairying and the sugar industry are 
inseparably connected. The by-products 
of an acre of beets have a feed value equal 
to an acre of corn, said Mr. Pratt, and 
by engaging in dairying there is estab- 
lished the cycle of more beets, more cows, 
more beets. 

THE PRIZE AWARDS 

The evening program was given over 
to awarding the prizes and imparting 
information on the records of the cows 
entered in the show. At this meeting 
J. C. Milne, of Belle Fourche, brought out 
the real purpose of the show and spoke of 
the advantages of more cows, how they 
might be secured and means by which 
purchases could be financed. The test- 
ing and tabulation of results were directed 
by County Agent Ellison, who prepared 
the accompanying data on feed consump- 
tion, production, and profit. 

Prizes were awarded entirely on the 
basis of buttcrfat produced, and no con- 
sideration was given to time of freshening 
or to the age of the various cows. Honors 
went to the Red Durham, this being a 
family cow just fresh and in her home sur- 
roundings, although not considered the 
best type and breed for general dairy 
purposes. Second prize was carried off 
by a Holstein from one of the best dairy 
herds on the project. The Ayrshire tak- 
ing third place represents a breed that 
is fast coming into favor as a dual purpose 
strain well suited to the rigor of western 
winters. An interesting feature was the 
fact that practically every cow increased 
her milk flow from January 6 to 16 under 
the balanced feeding and care given the 
cows during the show. 

Beyer Aune, of the United States 
experiment farm, was superintendent of 
the dairy show. O. C. Batch, formerly 



associate reclamation economist, in the 
Reclamation Bureau, had charge of the 
feeding, milking, and weighing. This 
demonstration has added the needed zest 
to the dairy business, and already the com- 



mittee has orders for about three carloads 
of young stock to be purchased in the 
dairy centers of the Middle West. The 
show will be made an annual affair, alter- 
nating at the various project towns. 



Production record of cows entered in project dairy show held at Newell, S. Dak., January 

fi to 16, 1929 



Jo 

f 1 I Breed of cow Ownpr %\ d k d a r t f in South I T 

< P. 



Kid Durham. 

2 Holstein 

3 I Ayrshire 

4 Roan Short- 

horn. 

5 Oufrnscy 

6 '' Ayrshire 

7 Holstein 

8 Brown Swiss. 

9 Jersey 

Holstein... 

1 ' Red Poll... 



Ilc'iiry Roberts, Newell 
H. W. Roswell, Arpan . 
John Thcil.'Ncwell 
C. I. Parks, Nisland 



R. B. Wondelken, Belle 
Fourche. 

Eli W. Long, Newell 

P. W. O'Conner. Arpan 

C. P. Cleveland, Belle Fourche 

Doctor Lloyd, Nisland 

Harold Richman, Newell 

O. O. Westre, Newell 



$2.28 
2.89 
2.79 
2.75 

2.95 

2.63 
2.73 
2.32 
2.25 
2.94 
2.49 



Milk Aver- 
pro- | age 
duecd test 



Pounds 
335. 2 
314.6 
314.2 
293.0 

239.5 

284.5 
282.2 
221.7 
184.1 
252.1 
244.0 



3.67 
3.83 
3.68 
3.68 

4.47 

3.73 
3.72 
4.57 
4.97 
3.45 
3.43 



Skim But- 
milk ter- 
value fat 



$1. 13 
1.06 
1.06 
.99 

.80 

.96 
.95 
.74 
.61 
.85 
.83 



Poundt 
12.3 
12.05 
11.56 
10.78 

10.7 

10.61 
10.5 
10.13 
9.15 
8.7 
8.37 



Value 

of 

prod- 
ucts 



$6.54 
6.36 
6.15 
5.73 

5.51 

5.63 
5.57 
5.20 
4.64 
4.68 
4.51 



Profit 



$4.26 
3.47 
3.36 
2.98 

2.56 

3.00 
2.84 
2.88 
2.39 
1.74 
2.02 



Profit 
day 



$0.61 
.49 
.48 
.43 

.37 

.43 
.41 
.41 
.34 
.25 
.29 



NOTE. Record for 7 days, January 9 to 15, inclusive. Prices: Butterfat, 44 cents per pound; alfalfa, $10 a 
ton; beet pulp, dry, $1 per hundredweight; grain, $1.50 per hundredweight; linseed meal, $3.25 per hundred- 
weight; mangels, $5 per ton; ensilage, $4 per ton. Labor not entered in cost. 




Mr. and Mrs. Cox now have 50 acres 
of diversified crops in the Tieton division, 
their original farm of 30 acres having 
been acquired in 1911. There are 5 
children in the family, 2 boys and 3 girls, 
whose ages range from 12 to 25 years, 
and all have been active in 4 H Club 
work. 



Miss Lillian Cox, Tieton division, Yakima project, 
Washington 



Girl Wins First 
Prize for Corn 



Miss Lillian Cox, 15-year old daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Cox, pioneers on 
the Tieton division of the Yakima irriga- 
tion project, Washington, won the first 
prize at the recent Tieton Community 
Fair for the best six ears of corn. She was 
the only girl participant in a field of 
activity in which the boys usually shine. 
Miss Cox has been in 4-H Club work for 
five years, is a prize-winning swimmer, 
an excellent dancer, and a leader in 
Tieton High School activities. 



Irrigated Areas Will 

Not Be Abandoned 

Fear has often been expressed that in 
| irrigated regions things may in time go 
from bad to worse, and that man eventu- 
ally may be compelled to give up the 
fight and see his farms revert to the wild 
state in which he found them. Such a 
pessimistic view, however, is not war- 
ranted. 

Soil studies recently completed in the 
Arkansas Valley of Colorado furnish a 
basis for more optimistic conclusions. 
The enormous yield of farm crops in the 
valley, which approximates an annual 
value of $11,000,000, could be increased 
at least 10 per cent, according to A. T. 
Sweet, associate soil scientist of the Bu- 
reau of Chemistry and Soils, Department 
of Agriculture, by a complete use of 
better lands, adjustment of crops to soils, 
utilization of water without waste, con- 
trol of alkali, and preservation of the soil 
in :i high condition of tilth and state of 
productiveness. These specific recom- 
mendations should prove of value to 
farmers of this area and also to others 
with similar characteristics of soil and 
climate, fc 



46 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



March, 1929 



Purebred Sheep on the Minidoka Project 



By B. E. Kuhns 

T>AISING purebred sheep is rapidly 
becoming an important and profit- 
able industry on the Minidoka irrigation 
project. This phase of the sheep enter- 
prise is distinctly different from the rais- 
ing of ordinary farm and range sheep in 
that the principal income from the flock 
is derived from the sale of breeding stock 
rather than from the sale of wool and mut- 
ton. The constantly increasing demand 
by the range sheep owners for a high 
quality of mutton type ram is largely 
responsible for the development of this 
type of sheep husbandry. They prefer 
the large mutton breeds, principally the 
Hampshire and Suffolk for use in their 
crossbred flocks of range ewes for the pro- 
duction of early maturing market lambs. 



, County Extension Agent 

There are more than 20 flocks of Hamp- 
shires on the project, ranging in size from 
30 to 200 head. Also there are 4 flocks of 
registered Suffolks and 2 flocks of Ram- 
bouillets. 

The rams are marketed chiefly through 
the two annual ram sales held at Filer 
and Pocatello, Idaho. These sales are 
conducted by the Idaho Wool Growers 
Association. 

Exceptionally good prices were received 
by Minidoka project breeders at these 
sales this past season. Yearling Hamp- 
shire rams brought from $39 to $62.50, 
yearling Suffolk rams $50 to $82.50, Suf- 
folk ram lambs from $50 to $105, and 
Rambouillet rams from $34 to $50 each. 
In 1927 two carloads of Hampshire ewes 



and rams were purchased by the Russian 
Government. 

An instance of the profit to be obtained 
from purebreds is illustrated by the 
experience of Gus Meuleman, a Rupert 
farmer. At the beginning of the 1928 
season Mr. Meuleman's flock consisted of 
30 purebred Hampshire ewes of breeding 
age, 28 ewe lambs, and a high class stud 
ram with a total value of $1,700. From 
this flock wool valued at $268 was sold 
and from aged ewes and ram lambs 
$1,600 was realized. The flock left on 
hand at the end of the season consisted of 
13 aged ewes, 26 yearling ewes, and 23 
ewe lambs conservatively valued at $2,020 
or an increase in the inventory value of 
$260, bringing this year's gain on the 
flock to $2,128. This is only one of many 
examples of success with purebred sheep 
on the Minidoka project. 



The Lloyd Dam, Bhatgar, India 



A RECENT report from Alan S. Rogers, 
^^ American Vice Consul at Bombay, 
India, gives some interesting information 
concerning the Lloyd Dam, which was 
formally opened on October 27, 1928, by 
Sir Leslie Wilson, Governor of Bombay 
Presidency. The dam was begun 15 years 
ago and cost approximately $6,278,000. 
Its dimensions are as follows: Crest 
length, 5,333 feet; height, 190 feet above 
lowest foundation; depth of water above 
lowest sluices, 143 feet; length of lake, 17 
miles; perimeter of lake, 46 miles; area of 
lake, 14J^ square miles; capacity of lake, 
460,000 acre-feet; catchment area, 128 



square miles; volume of masonry, 797,000 
cubic yards. 

The Lloyd Dam will collect the rains of 
the monsoon period, and the water supply 
thus accumulated will be carried through 
2 canals, 100 and 106 miles in length, 
respectively, throughout an area of 
approximately 834,000 acres, of which 
202,000 acres will be irrigated annually. 
The annual value of crops which it is 
expected will be grown on the irrigated 
area is $11,689,500. 

Although it is not intended at first to 
use the water from the sluices to generate 
electric power, it is nevertheless pointed 



out that the turbine sluices already in- 
stalled as outlets could provide sufficient 
water to generate 2,100 electric horse- 
power continuously. There are 81 gates 
in the waste weir for the regulation and 
control of the flood level of the lake, of 
which 45 are automatic. Every stage of 
the work was conducted with great pre- 
caution, the mortar and rubble were tested 
periodically, and a safety factor of at 
least 5 was given. 

C. B. Pooley, the superintendent engi- 
neer in charge of the construction of the 
dam, states that the great Assuan Dam 
in Egypt, although smaller than the 
Lloyd Dam by half a million cubic feet 
in volume, required nevertheless an ex- 
penditure greater by 50 per cent. The 
materials employed in the construction of 
the Lloyd Dam were practically all 
obtained in the locality. 



MEMORIAL 

BUILDING AT 

HORTHERN 

TERMINAL 



ffOAD FROM 
POONA TO BOHR 



ii. 



--jgS^P^ '. ^ -& V ^^^i\\^\'^\'"''-\-^ \ 

-Tr-S^P^'ik- '* ^_ ^^. ' -LI?- j\r?TV^-. \\V\\ V- \i ^Sfe^.^SEZi/S 




a 
The Lloyd Dam at Bhatgar, India. Length, 5,333 feet; height, 190 feet 



March, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



47 



Sulphur Fertilizer Trial 



THE following is from an article by 
Prof. W. L. Powers, of the Oregon 
Agricultural Experiment Station, on the 
Relation of Fertility to Water Require- 
ment of Plants, printed in the Journal 
.of the American Society of Agronomy: 

A field fertilizer experiment was ar- 
ranged on the University of California 
irrigation experiment field near Delhi. 
This trial was designed to test laboratory 
and greenhouse results as applied to field 
.conditions, to provide a field source of sam- 
iples for laboratory studies from treated 
soils, to measure the value of sulphur in 
increased crop yields, and to determine 
the effect of fertilizer applied on irrigation 
requirement and water requirement. 

Sulphur and sulphates increased alfalfa 
yields substantially, the gain running 
from 1 to 2 tons an acre over the yields 



from untreated plats. The maximum 
yield was secured with calcium sulphate. 
Calcium alone in amounts equivalent to 
that obtained from calcium sulphate 
caused a moderate increase in yield. 
The increase in yield from sulphur alone 
was a little less than that secured with 
calcium sulphate and slightly less than 
that secured with potassium sulphate. 
There was little advantage during the 
first season from supplying sulphur at the 
rate of 200 pounds an acre as compared 
with the 100-pound application. Treated 
plats gave larger dry-matter yields, with 
lower water requirement per unit dry 
matter produced. All plats treated with 
sulphur or sulphate produced alfalfa with 
deep green color which made a vigorous 
growth throughout the season. Alfalfa 
on untreated plats had a yellowish color 



and made less rapid or vigorous growth. 
Calcium alone caused a lighter green 
color, especially early and late in the 
season. Superphosphate failed to main- 
tain more vigorous growth than untreated 
plats late in the season. Application of 
200 pounds an acre of sulphur did not 
produce materially more alfalfa than was 
obtained from a 100-pound treatment. 
There was some evidence that calcium 
was obtained more readily in the presence 
of sulphate. 

Sulphur-oxidation products may greatly 
increase the supply of reactive calcium; 
or improve the reaction of arid soils for 
alfalfa nutrition; or on certain soils and at 
certain seasons may result in a more 
favorable sulphate concentration for leg- 
umes. In general, the effect of sulphur 
that will be paramount may depend upon 
the characteristics of the soil at hand, its 
reaction, physical condition, chemical 
composition, or microorganic flora. The 
increased yield from this fertilizer has gen- 
erally been secured at a reduced water cost. 



Cooperatives Improve 

Farm Products Quality 

Improvement of the quality of farm 
products is one of the outstanding results 
of farmers' cooperative marketing organi- 
zations, according to Chris L. Christensen, 
of the Department of Agriculture. 

"Cooperative associations have in- 
fluenced the marketing of agricultural 
products because they represent the 
producer. They have brought the pro- 
ducers' point of view into marketing and, 
on the other hand, they have brought a 
knowledge of market demands back to 
the producer. They have effected im- 
provements in grading and handling 
farm products, and have brought about 
also definite improvements in production. 
Events have demonstrated that local 
associations, although still performing 
valuable and necessary services, can not 
give their members complete marketing 
service and that large-scale cooperatives 
are necessary. Thus the trend at the 
present time is toward the federation and 
consolidation of existing associations and 
toward the undertaking of more complete 
and therefore more complex marketing 
services." 



Proper Implements Help 
Sugar- Beet Growers 

Man labor is by far the largest item of 
expense in sugar-beet production, but 
this item of expense is being reduced in 
many districts by the use of larger equip- 
ment that enables more work to be done 
per man in a given time. 

In many districts plowing is done with 
a unit consisting of a single-bottom plow, 
1 man' and 2 horses. If the work were 
done with a 2-bottom, 4-horse plow and 



1 man, twice as much ground could be 
covered by 1 man in the same time. 
The same comparison is true of a number 
of other operations in sugar-beet produc- 
tion, such as cultivating, harrowing, lift- 
ing, and hauling. Larger units and more 
power than commonly employed could be 
used in many instances with the result 
that more work could be done by one 
man. Farm management specialists tell 
in Farmers' Bulletin No. 1042-F how 
man labor can be saved and production 
speeded up through the use of large 
machines and large units of power. 







A COMPANY has been formed to 
develop and market the extensive 
salt deposits lying south and east of Fallon 
an the Newlands, project. 




Ifalfa, Orland project, Ci 



48 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



March, 1829 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



AT the invitation of the National 
^^ Drainage Association Doctor Mead 
attended sessions of the annual national 
drainage congress at the Peabody Hotel, 
Memphis, Tenn., February 19-21, and 
addressed the assembly on the subject 
of Boulder Dam on February 20. 

J. C. Whitney, for many years construc- 
tion superintendent connected with "the 
larger features on the Salt River, Yuma, 
Grand Valley, Belle Fourche, King Hill, 
Klamath, and other projects, died sud- 
denly at Pabellon, Mexico, on January 18. 

R. F. Walter, chief engineer; J. L- 
Savage, chief designing engineer; and L. N. 
McClellan, electrical engineer, had a 
recent conference in Las Vegas, Nev., with 
railroad and power company engineers in 
connection with transportation and power 
investigations for the Boulder Canyon 
Dam. On their return to Denver, Messrs. 
Walter and Savage paid a short visit to 
the Salt Lake Basin project at Coalville, 
Utah, and Mr. McClellan returned to 
Denver by way of Boise, where he made 
an inspection of the power and pumping 
plant at Black Canyon Dam. 

E. B. Debler, hydrographic engineer, 
has been given a temporary assignment as 
special advisor to the Government repre- 
sentative on the Rio Grande Compact 
Commission with headquarters at Santa 
Fe, N. Mex. 

E. G. Harlan, assistant secretary, 
Oregon State Chamber of Commerce, 
visited the Vale project on a recent date, 
looking over the lands in the vicinity and 
in the Little Valley and Harper areas, for 
which it is hoped water will be available 
in 1930. 

Reclamation Economist B. E. Hayden, 
who was in the hospital in Denver until 
the latter part of January, left for Wash- 
ington a week later and is now engaged 
in preparing plans of inexpensive farm 
houses, barns, and hog and chicken 
houses. 



Ethelbert Ward, assistant attorney 
general of the United States, visited the 
Denver office recently in connection with 
the Newlands project. 



Examiner C. A. Lyman was an official 
visitor on the Riverton project for several 
days. 



Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of 
Reclamation Economics, was detailed 
recently for two weeks to the office of the 
Secretary of the Interior to act as Assist- 
ant to the Secretary in the absence .of 
K. K. Burlew, administrative assistant. 



Among the Denver office employees re- 
cently called to the field were Master 
Mechanic T. S. Martin, who visited Port- 
land on an inspection of the drum gate 
for the Easton diversion dam, going from 
there to Seattle to inspect miscellaneous 
metal work; and Master Mechanic N. E. 
Fordham, who was sent to Omaha to in- 
spect the 60-inch differential needle valves 
for the Echo, Gibson, and Coolidge Dams, 
and later to Chicago and vicinity to in- 
spect gate hoists for operation of radial 
gates on the main canal of the Kittitas 
division, and the operation of the hinged 
weir gates at Harper diversion dam, Vale 
project. 



I. M. Zaki, assistant director of public 
works, Egypt, was among the recent 
visitors to the Yuma project. 



District Counsel B. E. Stoutemyer 
spent several days on the Boise project 
in connection with the adjudication of 
the Boise water rights. Later he was in 
conference with project and district 
officials on the Minidoka project, after 
which lie visited the Vale project. 



I'.. (. Marian, assistant secretary, Ore- 
gon State Chamber of Commerce, visited 
the Vale project on January 15, looking 
over the lands in the vicinity and in the 
Little Valley and Harper areas for which 
it is hoped water will be available in 1930. 



Among the recent visitors to Kittitas 
division of the Vakima project were 
G. H. Plummer, western land agent, 
Northern Pacific Railway, and Asahel 
Curtis, president, Washington Irrigation 
Institute. 



Mr. Olson, of the California-Oregon 
Power Co., has called at the Klamath P'alls 
office several times recently in connection, 
with studies of water supply conditions. 



F. E. Weymouth, former chief engineer 
of the Bureau of Reclamation, who for the 
past several years has been in the employ 
of J. G. White & Co., in charge of the 
construction of a number of dams in 
Mexico, has resigned to accept the posi- 
tion of assistant chief engineer of the Los 
Angeles Bureau of Public Works. 



George A. Ward, former attorney in the 
Bureau of Reclamation, died February 20, 
1929. Mr. Ward resigned from the bureau 
on September 17, 1923, and was appointed 
as an attorney in the Federal Trade Com- 
mission, where he was employed at the 
time of his death. 




The largest pickle-saltin station in the world, Nisland, Belle Fourche project, South Dakota 



D. 8. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1029 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



HON. HOY O. WEST, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

E. C. Finney, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. O. Patterson, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary 

Washington, D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 
Dencer, ColoraJo, Wilda Building 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Ilai per, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Ofl'utt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; 
C. A. Lyman, Fiscal Inspector. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 




Newell, S. Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt ... 
R J Newell 


J. P. Siebeneicher 
W. L Vernon 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


Wm. J. Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Billings Mont. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise ' 




B. E. Stoutemyer 
H J. S. Devries 


Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N. Mex 
Orand Junction, Colo. 


L. E. Foster 
J C Page 


W. C. Berger 


W. C. Berger 


Grand Valley 




W. J. Chiesman 


J R Alexander 


Huntley 2 


E E Lewis 








King Hill 


King Hill, Idaho 


F. L. Kinkaid 








Klamath 


Klamath Falls, Oreg 




N. G. Wheeler 




R J Coffey 


Lower Yellowstone 


Savage, Mont 


H. A. Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E E Chabot 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E. Chabot.. 


E. E. Roddis 


Milk River 


Malta, Mont 


H. H. Johnson 


do 


Minidoka * 








B. E. Stoutemyer 
R. J. Coffey .. 


Newlands 5 


Fallen, Nev 


A. W. Walker 




Miss E. M. Simmonds. 
Viriril F, Huhhell 


North Platte 8 


Mitchell Nebr 


H C Stetson 


Virgil E Hubbell 


Wm. J. Burke 




Okanogan, Wash 


Joe C. Iddings 




B. E. Stoutemyer... 
R. J. Coffey 

B. E. Stoutemyer 


Orland 


Orland, Calif 


R. C. E. Weber 


C. H. Lillingston 


C. H. Lillingston 
Frank P. Greene 


Owyhee 




F. A. Banks 


H. N. Bickel 




El Paso, Tex 


L R Fiock 


Henry H. Berry hill... 

R T! Smith 


L S Kennicott 


H J S Devries 




H D Comstock 


R H Smith 


Wm J Burke 




C. C. Cragin 






L. H. Mitchell W. F. Sha 


E. E. Roddis 


Strawberry Valley 10 ___ 
Sun River n 




Lee R. Taylor 






Fairfleld, Mont 


G. O. Sanford 


H. W. Johnson H. W. Johnson 


E. E. Roddis 


Umatilla 12 






















L. J Foster 


G. H. Bolt 


F. D. Helm 


J. R. Alexander 


Vale Vale Oreg 


H W Bashore 


C. M. Voyen 


C. M. Voyen 


B. E. Stoutemyer 


Yakima Yakima, Wash 


P J Preston 




J C. Gawler 




R M Priest 


H R. Pasewalk 


E. M. Philebaum 


R. J. Coffey 










Large Construction Work 


Salt Lake Basin, Echo 
Dam. 
Kittitas 


Coalville, Utah 


F F. Smith n. F. Williams 


J. R. Alexander 


Montrose, Colo. 

Portland, Oreg. 
Billings, Mont. 


Ellensburg, Wash 


Walker R. Young ' 3 


E. R. Mills 


B. E. Stoutemyer 


Sun River, Gibson 
Darn. 




F C. Lewis 


F. C. Lewis E- F.. Rnddis 













1 Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1, 1926. 

2 Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1927. 

3 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 

* Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation 
District on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District 
on Dec. 2, 1910. 

5 Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1926. 

9 Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by 
Northport Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



7 Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 

8 Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. 

' Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

10 Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. 

11 Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

1! Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, and East Division by Hermiston Irrigation District informally on 
July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926. 

13 Construction engineer. 



Important Investigations in Progress 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 




Powell, Wyo 


I. B. Hosig 






Salt Lake City, Utah 


E. O. Larson 


State of Utah. 


Truckee River investigations 


Fallon, Nev... 


A. W. Walker 




Yakima project extensions . 


Yakima, Wash 


P. J. Preston 














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< 



NEW 

RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



APRIL, 1929 



NO. 4 




STONY GORGE DAM AND RESERVOIR FROM NORTH SIDE, ORLAND PROJECT. CALIFORNIA 



RAY LYMAN WILBUR 

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 



XTVR. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, newly appointed Secretary of the Interior, was 

i I bornatBoonesboro,Iowa,Aprill3,I875. He graduated from Stanford Uni- 

O^-^ versity with the degree of A. B. in 1896, receiving his master's degree the 

following year, and the degree of M. D.from Cooper Medical College, San Francisco, 

in 1899. From 1903 to 1904 he was a student at Frankfort-on-the-Main and at 

London, and from 1909 to 1910 at the University of Munich. He received the 

degree of LL. D. from the University of California in 1919, from the University of 

Arizona in the same year, and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1925. 

Syracuse University gave him the degree of Sc. D. in 1924. 

Doctor Wilbur has been an instructor in physiology, assistant professor of phys- 
iology, professor of medicine, dean of the Medical School, and president of Stan- 
ford University, and a lecturer at Cooper Medical College. He was chief of the 
conservation division of the United States Food Administration in 1917 ; member 
of the California State Council of Defense, 1917; regional educational director, 
Students' Army Training Corps, District No. II, 1918; president of the California 
State Conference of Social Agencies, 1919; Council of Social and Health Agencies, 
San Francisco, 1922-1925; vice president of the San Francisco Community Chest; 
delegate to the Sixth Pan American Conference in Habana, 1928; a member of the 
State Park Commission of California; and has been since 1923 a trustee of the 
Rockefeller Foundation. 

Doctor Wilbur is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science; member of the American Academy of Medicine, of which he Was president 
1912-1913; American Medical Association council on medical education and 
hospitals, of which he was president 1923-1924; Association of American Medical 
Colleges, of which he was president in 1924; California Academy of Medicine, of 
which he was president 191 7-19 1 8; Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi Societies. He 
has been chairman since 1924 of the medical council of the United States yeterans' 
Bureau; chairman since 1925 of the Institute of Pacific Relations, Honolulu; and 
chairman of the executive committee, Survey of Race Relations on the Pacific Coast. 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cents a year 

RAY LYMAN WILBUR EL WOOD MEAD 

Secretary of the Interior Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



April, 1929 



No. 4 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



PRELIMINARY designs arid estimates 
for the Cle Elum Dam, Yakima proj- 
ect, Washington, and consideration of 
various schemes for the outlet works have 
been completed. Final designs for this 
dam on a basis of storage capacity of 
417,000 acre-feet and a spillway capacity 
of 35,000 second-feet with the water sur- 
face at the top of the dam have been 
prepared. The outlet works and spillway 
are combined in a single structure. 



designs have been prepared 
for weirs, drops, chutes, culverts, and 
turnouts to be included in specifications 
for the construction of the Harper Valley 
lateral system on the Vale project 
Oregon. Specifications for the construc- 
tion of this system and that of the Chicken 
Creek siphon on the Vale Main Canal are 
in progress of preparation. 



ON the Yuma project during a recent 
month shipments of fattened beef 
cattle by rail and truck were the heaviest 
this season, with 46 carloads shipped by 
rail and 97 head by trucks. In addition, 
292 head of hogs were also shipped to the 
Pacific coast markets by truck. 



T AND transfers on the Yuma project 
-^ have shown an increase since the first 
of the year. This is encouraging as land 
sales have moved very slowly during the 
past year or two. 



THRILLING and blasting in the rock 
U quarry above Echo Dam, Salt Lake 
Basin project, have been carried on con- 
tinuously, and the dam is practically 30 
per cent completed. 



THE Kittitas division of the Yaki- 
ma project work continued under 
nine contracts on the construction of 
Easton Dam, about 6 miles of main canal, 
south branch canal, and the first 1 1 miles 
of the north branch canal. 

4119429 



ri^HE Yuma Mesa Grapefruit Syndicate, 
- which recently completed the picking 
of this season's crop, marketed their fruit 
in pools through the Imperial Valley 
Grapefuit Growers' Association. This 
association marketed practically the entire 
crop for unit B in 1927 with satisfactory 
results. 



THE Churchill County Poultrymen 
(Inc.) are trying to have the State 
legislature pass a bill making it unlawful 
to transport poultry on public roads 
between the hours of sundown and sunrise 
without a written permit from the sheriff 
of the county or counties through which 
the poultry is to be moved, the purpose 
being to curb poultry stealing. 



THE Lahontan Valley, Nev., offers a 
wonderful opportunity for the dairy- 
man. The outstanding advantages are 
the climatic conditions, cheap feed, abun- 
dance of water, adequate marketing sys- 
tem, and a group of farmers who believe 
in organization. The greatest oppor- 
tunity for profit in dairying is not increas- 
ing the number of cows, but in increasing 
the production of each cow. A high- 
producing cow requires no more time to 
care for than a poor one, eats but little 
more feed, and makes very much more 
profit. 



ON the west extension district of the 
Umatilla project dairy cattle and 
sheep are in demand. Fair dairy cows 
are selling for $100 to $125 each and beef 
prices are excellent, cull cows bringing a 
price of $65 to $80. 



HP 1 1 E water supply for the Orland project 
*- will depend upon the early spring 
rains. On the Klamath project a curve 
of minimum lake elevations was submitted 
to the California-Oregon Power Co. in 
order that no shortage will occur under 
the upper Klamath Lake. 



OTEADY progress is now being made in 
^ the settlement and development of 
the Yuma auxiliary project, and it seems 
certain that when citrus men and prospec- 
tive investors realize the advantages in the 
absence of killing frosts, assured water 
supply, and other features peculiar to this 
project, development will be more rapid 
than at present. 



E onion market on the Uncompahgre 
project, Colorado, showed steady 
improvement, the price offered ranging 
around $4.25 per hundredweight. Forty 
carloads were awaiting shipment to mar- 
ket at the latest report from the project. 



"CUVE carloads of cheese having a total 
^- value of $30,000 have been shipped 
from the Uncompahgre project, Colorado, 
since the first of the year. 



E culling of poultry on the Grand 
Valley project, Colorado, is becoming 
a rather prominent side line. During 
this season it is probable that a demon- 
stration farm patterned after the plant at 
Coalville, Utah, described in a recent issue 
of the Era, will be started near Grand 
Junction. This plant will be financed by 
local people, and it is believed it will serve 
to increase the production to a point where 
carload shipments of eggs will be possible, 
thus realizing benefits not now received. 



ONFERENCES of irrigation farmers 
have been held at Saco, Malta, and 
Chinook, stressing improved and, stand- 
ardized farming methods, particularly in 
connection with sugar-beet culture on the 
Milk River project, Montana. Consider- 
able interest was displayed by the farmers, 
especially on the Chinook division, and a 
bulletin is being prepared by the county 
agents outlining the practices in irrigated 
agriculture which have given the best 
results generally in the production of the 
principal project crops. 

49 



50 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



April, 1929 



Resume of 



in Progress During Present Fiscal Year and Proposed 
j or Fiscal Year 1930 ' 



By R. F. Waltci, Chief Engineer, Bureau oj Reclamation 



IIIAYK lieeu assigned tin- same subject 
as at the last biennial conference in 
March, 1927. No new projects have been 
inaugurated during this period, therefore 
I assume that a discussion is desired of 
the progress that has been made during 
the past two years in carrying out the 
plans then contemplated, and of changes 
that have been made, if any, in such pro- 
gram; in other words, a brief keynote 
statement for the purpose of guidance of 
future operations. 

NO NEW PROJECTS AUTHORIZED 

The appropriations made by Congress 
for the fiscal year 1928 substituted the 
Gooding division under the designation 
of the North Side gravity extension unit 
of the Minidoka project, for the North 
Side pumping unit, which was included in 
the 10-year program, as the next unit of 
the Minidoka project to be constructed. 
This made advisable the postponement of 
the proposed power development at the 
American Falls Dam, for which an appro- 
priation had already been made, as 
little of this power, which was largely to 
be used in connection with the latter 
development, would be needed and a 
frozen investment would have resulted. 
A favorable adjustment by which the 
small amount of this power that was 
needed by the project during the next 10 
years could be secured without cost, as 
well as some revenue from the surplus 
American Falls storage, was worked out 
with the Idaho Power Co., but on account 
of protests of certain interests, has not, 
except as to the revenues secured during 
the past year for rental of the surplus 
capacity during 1928, been made effective. 

Congress made no appropriations for 
new projects from the reclamation fund 
during the past two years, and it is not 
anticipated that any will be made until 
the 10-year program period for completion 
of present projects is concluded. All the 
available resources of the fund will be 
required for this purpose. 

THE BUREAU PROGRAM 

Appropriations for construction and 
operation and maintenance, authorized 
from the reclamation fund by the last 
Congress which has recently adjourned, 
for the next fiscal year aggregate 
$13,014,472, of which $9,361,400 is new 
and $3,653,072 carry over appropriations, 
as compared with a total of $15,572,687 
for the fiscal year 1929, of which 



1 Address delivered t the Denver Conference, Mar. 
13, 1929. 



$12,894,000 was direct and $2,678,687 
reappropriation. In addition to the 
above appropriations Congress authorized 
the expenditure of commercial power 
revenues to the extent of $190,000 for the 
operation and maintenance of five power 
plants on as many projects during 1929 
and $315,000 for the same purpose and 
transmission line extensions during 1930. 
Authorization was also provided, each 
year, for refund of construction charges 
paid on class 6 lands. 

BOULDER CANYON LEGISLATION 

The most important new legislation by 
Congress affecting the Bureau of Recla- 
mation, although not the reclamation 
fund, during the past biennial period, is 
the Boulder Canyon act, which was 
signed by the President on December 21, 
1928, and authorizes appropriations from 
the General Treasury as distinguished 
from the reclamation fund to the extent 
of $165,000,000. Certain conditions at- 
tached to the act, requiring State legis- 
lation on the distribution of the waters 
of the Colorado River and execution of 
contracts for sale of power or power 
privileges and water sufficient to repay 
the cost of the dam and power plant, 
with interest, in 50 years and the cost of 
the all-American canal in 40 years are 
required before appropriations will be 
made therefor. This will require at best 
from six months to a year and may re- 
quire a much longer period before this 
work can be actively initiated. In the 
meantime only preliminary work and some 
investigations of irrigation projects in the 
Colorado River Basin, for which an ex- 
penditure of $250,000 is authorized in the 
act, is possible. The passage of this act 
greatly increased the work of the Denver 
office, as letters of inquiry often requiring 
considerable time of some one to compile 
the information requested, were received 
and had to be read and answered at a 
rate of over 100 some days. This extra 
work had to be absorbed by the regular 
office force owing to the limitation in- 
cluded in the appropriation acts on the 
expenditure for salaries in the Chief 
Engineer's office. This limitation should 
be sufficiently elastic to provide for in- 
crease in force when large additional 
duties not contemplated or foreseen when 
the limitation is fixed, are added by sub- 
sequent legislation by Congress. 

STATUS OF THE RECLAMATION FUND 

It is expected that, with the continu- 
ation of reasonably prompt repayment of 



construction charges on completed proj- 
ect developments, the reclamation fund 
will be able to meet the appropriations 
made which are dependent thereon dur- 
ing the fiscal years 1929 and 1930 but with 
the demand on the fund in connection 
with the many large contracts now in 
force and likely to be made during this 
calendar year, it is quite probable that 
the appropriations for 1931 must be cur- 
tailed or allotments thereform limited to 
less than 100 per cent of the appropria- 
tions. Contract obligations and opera- 
tion and maintenance costs, where not 
advanced by the water users, must be 
provided for first and the new work to be 
undertaken curtailed if necessary. It is 
probable that this condition will continue 
for five years at least, or until the con- 
struction of the projects provided for in 
the 10-year program are completed. Any 
new projects that might be authorized 
by Congress during this period would 
disarrange the program and be disastrous 
to our ambitions for the orderly and early 
completion of the present projects. 

FOUR DAMS COMPLETED 

At the time of the last biennial con- 
ference, it was stated that three large 
storage reservoirs would soon be com- 
pleted. These were completed, as well 
as the Stony Gorge Dam, which was then 
just started, and have since been in suc- 
cessful operation. The estimated and ac- 
tual costs upon completion are as follows: 



Estimated 
cost 



American Falls Reservoir 

McKay Reservoir. 

Guernsey Reservoir and 

power plant 

Stony Gorge Reservoir 



$8.000,000 
2,500,000 

2, 350, 000 
1,250,000 



Actual 
cost 



$7, 356, 000 
2,115,000 

2,344,000 
1, 253, 000 



I will not undertake to enumerate here 
the many problems that were met and 
solved during the construction. Suffice 
to say, however, that the construction 
engineer on each of these dams is to be 
congratulated on the success with which 
the construction of these four large dams 
was carried out and completed within 
the estimates and within contract time 
in each case, and without any undue 
friction between the contractors and the 
Government engineering forces. To do 
this is all that can be asked of any engineer. 

CONSTRUCTION OF THREE DAMS IN 
PROGRESS 

The Gibson Dam in the Sun River 
Canyon in Montana, estimated to cost 
$2,785,000, has been under construction 



April, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



51 



during the past two years, is 82 per cent 
completed at this time, and I can confi- 
dently predict that it will be successfully 
completed early during the present sum- 
mer, within the estimated cost and time 
limit, and the name of the construction 
engineer on this dam will be placed on the 
roll of honor along with the four above 
referred to. 

The construction of the $6,000,000 
Owyhee Dam in Oregon which will, 
perhaps for a .short time only, be the 
highest dam in existence, as several 
higher dams are now in course of construc- 
tion or planned, was delayed for some 
time, owing to the necessity for additional 
and extensive foundation explorations 
before the plans could be completed. 
During the period of enforced delay, 
however, the 24-mile construction railroad 
needed to transport concrete aggregates, 
from the nearest satisfactory gravel 
deposit and the construction power trans- 
mission line to furnish power from the 
Government power plant at the Black 
Canyon Dam, were completed by the 
Bureau of Reclamation, thus permitting 
the contractor to begin active construction 
on the dam immediately upon the award 
of the contract. This contract was 
awarded at a price well within the esti- 
mate on June 16, 1928. This program no 
doubt saved one year's time. Good 
progress is being made in construction of 
the large diversion tunnel and excavation 
for foundation. The actual placing of 
concrete in the dam will, without doubt . be 
possible before the present summer is over. 

Both of the above dams and the 
incidental conditions encountered were 
described bv me at the conference two 







Seining carp from Belle Fourche Reservoir, Belle Fourche project, South Dakota 



years ago and also have been published 
in the Reclamation Era, and except for 
new developments not heretofore de- 
scribed I will endeavor to cut out as much 
static of this kind as possible. 

ECHO DAM 

The Echo Dam which has been con- 
tracted since the last conference, will 
form a reservoir having a capacity of 
74,000 acre-feet, is now under construction 
across the Weber River Valley about 45 
miles above Ogden, Utah. Contracts for 
relocation of that part of the Park City 
branch of the Union Pacific Railroad and 
the Lincoln Highway that will be flooded 
by the reservoir, were awarded on Novem- 
ber 9, 1927. The relocation of the rail- 
road and highway have been completed 
and the construction of the dam is about 
one-third completed at this time. 




Cotton grown on the Carlshad project, New Mexico 



The type of dam under construction 
is that of a rolled embankment about 
1,900 feet long and 130 feet maximum 
height, with concrete cut-off wall extend- 
ing into bed rock and rock protection on 
the water slope. The control works are 
in a rock lined tunnel. The spillway is a 
concrete lined chute. The estimated 
cost of the reservoir is $2,750,000 and for 
a diversion canal from the Weber to the 
Provo valley, $250,000 additional. 

THREE NEW DAMS TO BE CONSTRUCTED 

Plans and specifications are in course of 
preparation for three new storage dams 
needed to complete present projects and 
for which appropriations have been pro- 
vided by Congress. All three of these 
dams will be advertised during the present 
fiscal year and if satisfactory bids are 
received, early construction of all will be 
in progress. 

DEADWOOD DAM 

The Deadwood Dam will be located on 
the Deadwood River, a branch of the 
Payette, some 50 miles north of Boise, 
Idaho. The reservoir formed by the dam 
will have a capacity of 150,000 acre-feet, 
and this storage will ultimately be re- 
quired for the proposed Payette division 
of the Boise project. At this time, how- 
ever, its immediate requirement, pending 
the completion of the Owyhee project, 
will be storage for power development at 
the Black Canyon power plant required 
by the Gem irrigation district lands where 
30,000 acres of old developed land, which 
will ultimately have a gravity water sup- 
ply from the Owyhee project, are de- 
pendent on a pumped water supply. 



52 



\EW RECLAMATION ERA 



April, 1929 



The cost of the dam, as well as the 
Black Canyon power plant, it is hoped 
will be repaid from the power revenues 
during the next 15 years. If this cost is 
thus liquidated, it is expected that the 
construction of the Payette division, 
which would otherwise have to repay 
this cost, may he irtade feasible. This 
dam will be of concrete arch design 600 
feet long and 160 feet maximum height. 
It will contain 50,000 cubic yards of con- 
crete, for which the aggregates available 
at the site are excellent. The foundation 
is in granite formation. The estimated 
cost is $1,200,000 and two summer 
seasons will be required for the comple- 
tion. Owing to its isolated location and 
deep snow on the adjacent roads, it prob- 
ably will not be possible for prospective 
bidders to visit the site prior to June. 

AVALON DAM 

In order to insure the water supply of 
the Carlsbad project in New Mexico, it is 
proposed to increase the storage in Avalon 
Reservoir on the Pecos River from 7,000 
to 50,000 acre-feet by raising the present 
water surface 22 feet. 

On account of the presence of gypsum 
and limestone, there is considerable 
doubt if this reservoir, when completed, 
will be tight, but as this is the best site 
available near the project the water 
users have elected to assume this risk, and 
in doing this they have voted supple- 
mental construction funds for repayment 
of the estimated cost of $1,412,000. 

This construction will consist of a main 
earthen embankment 1,000 feet long and 



about 65 feet maximum height with con- 
crete by-pass for regulation. There are 
additional low embankments aggregating 
7,500 feet in length. Spillway capacity of 
250,000 second-feet will be available with 
6 feet encroachment on the freeboard of 
the embankments. 

Relocation of four miles of the Pecos 
.Valley branch of the Santa Fe Railroad 
through the site at an estimated cost of 
$200,000 is necessary. The Santa Fe 
Railroad Co. has agreed to assume one- 
half of this cost. 

CLE ELUM DAM 

It has long been planned, as develop- 
ment of additional units of the Yakima 
project increases the demand for water, 
to construct a dam at the outlet of Lake 
Cle Elum on the Cle Elum River, an 
important branch of the Yakima River. 

With development of the Kittitas 
division during the next few years, addi- 
tional storage will be needed. 

There is at present a temporary crib 
dam at this site with a present storage 
capacity of 24,000 acre-feet. This will be 
increased by the construction of an earth 
dam 750 feet long on top and 130 feet 
maximum height, increasing the storage 
capacity to 417,000 acre-feet. An addi- 
tional 83,000 acre-feet of capacity can he 
secured, if and when needed, by drawing 
off about 45 feet of the present low water 
of the lake by means of a 2J^-mile tunnel 
outlet. This will be more expensive stor- 
age. The estimated cost of the present 
development of the Cle Elum Reservoir 
is $2,500,000, of which $175,000 has al- 




Kaising rabbits on Nowlands project, Niv ida a profitable industry 



ready been expended for investigations, 
purchase of flooded lands, etc., which will 
be repaid by the Kittitas division under 
construction, and other new divisions of 
the Yakima project proposed for con- 
struction. 

INSPECTION OF DAMS CONSTRUCTED BY 
THE BUREAU 

Two independent inspections of all 
dams constructed by the Bureau of 
Reclamation were made during the past 
summer, one by the bureau consulting 
engineers, D. C. Henny and A. J. Wiley; 
and a second by engineers detailed from 
the Engineer Corps of the War Depart- 
ment. Reports have been received on all 
but one dam inspected by the first engi- 
neers, and all but five inspected by the 
Army engineers. The reports received 
show all dams to have been well con- 
structed and properly maintained. Some 
valuable suggestions for minor better- 
ments were, however, included for further 
consideration, but all dams reported on to 
date have been declared safe. 

PROGRESS OF CANAL CONSTRUCTION 

While the construction of great dams 
always impresses the layman, on account 
of their more spectacular appearance, 
we can not all be dam engineers. There 
is another phase of our work which is 
most important and often requires 
greater forethought and engineering abil- 
ity than does the construction of dams. 
The proper location and construction of 
large canals, with their appurtenant 
diversion dams, tunnels, turnouts, waste- 
ways, and high-pressure conduits, such 
as are necessary on the more difficult 
projects which are now left for construc- 
tion, requires the most careful study and 
greatest ingenuity of the designing and 
construction engineers. 

THE KITTITAS PROJECT 

With the appropriations now avail- 
able, the Kittitas main canal, which is 
perhaps the most difficult of any large 
irrigation canal ever constructed, and 
laterals will be completed for the irri- 
gation of some 40,000 acres or over half 
of this project. The construction of the 
Yakima River crossing, bids for which 
were recently opened at Ellensburg, 
Wash., will complete the hist large struc- 
ture on this canal. This structure, 
which has been estimated to cost nearly 
one-half million dollars, is necessary to 
carry the water for 55,000 acres of the 
project across the Yakima River, along 
which two transcontinental railroads are 
located. Bids were requested on alter- 
nate plans, consisting of 111-inch diameter 



April, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



53 



riveted steel-plate inverted siphon on 
concrete piers, with bridge substructure 
over the river, 3,300 feet long, under a 
maximum head of 306 feet; and a con- 
crete pressure tunnel under the river 
9 feet 3 inches in diameter, 3,215 feet 
long, under a maximum head of 510 feet. 

The result of the advertisement, which 
does not include the cost of cement, shows 
the lowest bid to be $345,878 for the pres- 
sure tunnel, which is $35,000 under the 
engineer's estimate. The cost of the steel 
siphon, considering the low bid of $369,129, 
which is only $5,000 less than the engi- 
neer's estimate, would make the tunnel 
the most economical construction by far. 

With the completion of the present 
year's construction program, water will be 
available under the main canal and south 
branch canal for 17,500 acres, and with the 
completion of the Yakima River crossing 
and distribution system now planned, 
arid for which funds are available, water 
will be available for over 20,000 acres 
additional under the north branch canal 
in 1931. This will give the landowners 
under this project^ ample opportunity 
to demonstrate their claims for rapid 
and successful settlement. 

The result of recent advertisement of 
small lateral construction on this project 
demonstrates that we must look to the 
smaller contractors with a few teams or 
small drag lines to construct these works, 
as the larger contractors, who are accus- 
tomed to heavy construction work and 
have few teams available, will not bid on 
such work, or if they do the bids will be 
unreasonably high. 

THE VALE PROJECT 

The diversion works and first 20 miles 
of the main canal, including 1J/*J miles of 
tunnel, are completed or under contract, 
and with the funds available it is proposed 
to extend the main canal 20 miles to a 
point on the Bully Creek bench about 
2 miles northwest of the town of Vale, 
Oreg. This canal crosses Bully Creek 
by a steel siphon 10 feet in diameter and 
6,800 feet long, under a maximum head 
of 200 feet, which will require a large 
part of the 1930 appropriation to con- 
struct. The balance will be used for 
additional canal and for lateral system. 
By 1931, if the construction proceeds 
without undue interruption, the canal 
should be completed across Bully Creek 
and water become available for some 
14,000 acres, or over half of the project 
area. Settlement on this part of the 
project will then demonstrate if it is 
advisable to make further expenditure 
to extend the irrigable area at this time. 

THE OWYHEE PROJECT 

Construction of the canal system of this 
project will be inaugurated in the near 



future by advertisement of the 3} 
reservoir outlet tunnel. In order to 
deliver water to lands on this project, 
except supplemental water to 12,000 
acres under the Owyhee Canal, when the 
Owyhee Dam should JDC completed in 
1933, it will be rfecessary to expend 
$3,000,000 per year for five years on this 
project for construction of the main 
canal and distribution system and pay- 
ments on the Owyhee Dam contract, in 
order that water can be delivered to 
project lands in 1934, when the storage 
will become available. This will be a 
larger program than yet undertaken on 
any project. 

THE GOODING PROJECT 

On account of the fact that over one- 
half of the irrigable lands on this project 
are located in the Little Wood River Val- 
ley, settled under an old project, for which 
there is an inadequate water supply from 
the Wood River, the construction pro- 
cedure for this project, of not developing 
the units as the canal construction pro- 
ceeds, differs from the customary pro- 
cedure on most projects. Storage water 
is now available in the American Falls 
Reservoir and the 60-mile main canal will 
be rushed to completion as fast as surveys 
are completed and contracts can be let, 
and before any attention is given to devel- 
opment of the 36,000 acres of new land 
under the upper section of the canal. 

The first 3>/ miles of the main canal, 
which includes difficult and expensive 
rock excavation, is under construction. 
This section is being constructed to addi- 
tional capacity for use of and with coop- 
eration of the North Side Twin Falls 
project. Advertisement is pending for 
the next 20 miles, and as soon as surveys 
and designs can be completed the bal- 
ance of the 60 miles of main canal, for 
which appropriation has just become 
available, will be advertised. It will re- 
quire an exceedingly ambitious program 
to complete this canal and deliver water 
to Little Wood River by 1932. 

RIVERTON PROJECT 

By renewing appropriations for this 
project during the fiscal year 1929, Con- 
gress provided for construction of the 
Pilot division of 40,000 acres, regardless 
of the fact that practically no settlement 
had been made on the 20,000 acres of 
Government land in the Pavillion divi- 
sion, for which distribution system had 
been completed and water was available. 
Congress also departed from its customary 
procedure by providing that the work 
should be done by Government forces 
rather than by contract. 

During the past year the work has pro- 
ceeded in an orderly manner, with one gas 



and three electric drag lines, using the 
power supply subsequently developed on 
the project. 

The 1929 appropriation will complete 
about one-half of the main canal and dis- 
tribution system and the 1930 appropria- 
tion the balance; therefore by 1931 this 
division should be completed except for 
drainage and 40,000 additional acres 
added to the already relatively large un- 
settled area of this project. Drainage 
will have to be provided as settlement 
proceeds. Unless agricultural conditions 
are improved, or some plan is worked out 
for aided settlement, this project will be- 
come a greater liability on the bureau 
than any other project yet constructed. 

SUN RIVER PROJECT 

Congress has provided for the comple- 
tion of the main canal for the Greenfields 
area, for which the distribution system for 
42,000 acres has been completed. This 
consists of the enlargement of the Green- 
fields bench canal and construction of 
about 5 miles on an alternate location, 
thus avoiding a section of unstable side 
hill canal where much difficulty has been 
experienced in past operations. 

The alternate canal will be advertised 
as soon as surveys and plans can be com- 
pleted, and the enlargement of the balance 
of the Greenfields Canal will proceed in 
an orderly manner, with at least two drag 
lines, while the other work is in progress. 
This work should all be completed during 
1929 and 1930 calendar years. Congress 
has provided that the operation and 
maintenance of this unit shall be assumed 
in 1931 by the irrigation district. Five 
hundred thousand dollars are available 
for this work. 

NEW LANDS TO BE OPENED ON THE KLA- 
MATH AND SHOSHONE PROJECTS 

On the Tule Lake division of the Kla- 
math project and the Willwood division 
of the Shoshone project the construction 
of distribution and drainage works should 
proceed in an orderly manner by Govern- 
ment forces and through small contracts, 
in order that additional areas of land may 
be made available for entry in small units 
from time to time as these works are com- 
pleted, and there is demand therefor. 

PROGRESS OF DRAINAGE CONSTRUCTION 

Appropriations made by Congress have 
been expended each year in an orderly 
manner toward completion of the drain- 
age of irrigable lands on various projects 
affected by high-water tables. 

During the past year the drainage 
works for the Newlands, Huntley, and 
Warm Springs division of the Vale projects 
have been successfully completed. In 
each case the estimates and funds voted 
permitted the construction of additional 



54 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



April, 1029 



drains or the work was completed with 
surplus funds remaining unexpended. 

A small amount of drainage work has 
been authorized and remains to he done, 
generally as seepage conditions make the 
same necessary, under public notices 
issued or contracts made with irrigation 
districts and water users associations, 
on the Boise, Yuma, Hio Grande, and 
Grand Valley projects. This work will 
be continued during the coming year, 
or until funds provided are expended. 

The drainage funds provided in con- 
tracts with the irrigation districts on the 
Shoshone and Lower Yellowstone proj- 
ects are all provided by 1930 appropria- 
tions and work on these projects should be 
completed during the coming fiscal year. 

The construction of the drainage 
system for the Belle Fourche project, 
where 10,000 acres are affected by the 
high-water table, requiring the excavation 
of 143 miles of drain, at an estimated 
cost of $1,000,000, has been in progress 
by contract during the past year. This 
work should be so planned that it will 
all be completed by the end of the calendar 
year 1932, at the end of which the Belle 
Fourche Valley irrigation district is 
scheduled .to assume the operation and 
maintenance of the project. 

Satisfactory bids have been received 
for drainage construction on both the 
Lower Yellowstone and Belle Fourche 
projects, and this work on both projects 
is being done by contract. 

PROGRESS IN COMPLETING OLD PROJECTS 

Seventeen projects or project divisions 
have been completed and the works 
transferred, in whole or in part, for 
operation and maintenance to the respec- 
tive project irrigation district or water 
users' association organizations. 

Eight projects or divisions arc being 
opreated and maintained with funds ad- 
vanced by the water users, pending final 
completion of drainage or other features, 
and transfer at some stated future date. 

Ten additional projects or project 
divisions, with which no adjustment 
contracts were made, are still being 
operated and maintained under public 
notices or contracts, requiring annual 
appropriations for operation and main- 
tenance. With the exception of the 
Greenfields division of the Sun River 
project, which it is proposed to complete 
and transfer to the irrigation district 
thereon, by 1931; and the Carlsbad 
project, for which the construction of 
additional storage is proposed, con- 
struction on all has been practically 
completed, and they may be transferred 
to the water users at their option. 



The Denver Conference 
March 13-15, 1929 



MEMBERS of the engineering, oper- 
ating, legal, and economic forces 
of the Bureau of Reclamation met in 
Denver on March 13 for a 3-day con- 
ference on the many problems pressing 
for solution. The program, as already 
printed in the February issue of the New 
Reclamation Era, called for committee 
meetings and conferences from 9.30 to 11 
o'clock each morning, followed from 11.10 
a. m. to 12.30 p. in. and from 2 to 5 p. m. 
by general meetings in the conference hall 
for the delivery of prepared papers and 
general discussion. 

The first day's general meeting was 
called to order by Dr. Elwood Mead, 
commissioner, who discussed the present- 
day aspects of Federal reclamation. He 
touched on the question of the pressure for 
new projects and the limitations on our 
revenues, pointing out that the continua- 
tion of payments is of more than usual 
importance if we are to maintain the rate 
at which we are carrying on the work. 
Doctor Mead stated that during the past 
year we have had the usual requests for 
postponement of payments or complete 
writing off of debts. On some projects 
there is real difficulty in meeting obliga- 
tions, not so much to the Government, as 
taxes, store bills, and other debts. In all 
such cases we have stated that the law 
does not give the Secretary any discre- 
tionary power to modify the contracts. 

During the coining summer, on those 
projects where it is believed conditions 
could be bettered, it is planned to make 
an economic survey and report to Congress; 



such a survey to comprise a cross section of 
conditions through a personal investiga- 
tion of, say, 50 representative farmers on 
each such project. This should give us a 
fair idea of economic conditions on the 
less prosperous projects. 

Doctor Mead stated that the engineer- 
ing operations of reclamation are pretty 
well thought out; but that we are still 
drifting in our attention to those things 
that bring contentment and earning power. 
He spoke of the erroneous idea that the 
reclamation projects add to the surplus, 
when, as a matter of fact, they create a 
demand for eastern farm and industrial 
products, adding that we are planning to 
make up a complete report of the com- 
merce of the projects to show what they 
buy and what they sell. " We must begin 
to be .educators along this line," he said. 

Doctor Mead wae followed by Chief 
Engineer Walter, who gave a resume 1 of 
construction work in progress during the 
fiscal year 1929, and proposed work for the 
fiscal year 1930. Mr. Walter's address 
appears in this issue. 

The first day's program was given over 
to addresses and discussion by the engi- 
neers, with Mr. Walter presiding; the sec- 
ond day to the legal and financial forces, 
with Mr. Dent, assistant commissioner, 
presiding; and the third to the settlement 
and farm development organization, with 
Doctor Brown, assistant director of recla- 
mation economics, presiding. 

Other papers presented at the confer- 
ence will appear from time to time in 
future issues of the Era. 



SECONDARY PROJECT INVESTIGATIONS 

Congress has very liberally provided 
$225,000 for secondary project investiga- 
tions and about $70,000 reappropriation 
for economic investigations. Of the 
former $80,000 is for expenditure in the 
Colorado River Basin when certain 
conditions of the Boulder Dam act have 
been met. In general it may be said, 
and this is supported by the discussions in 
Congress when the appropriation was 
under consideration, that expenditures 
from this fund for investigation of new 
projects should be limited to those where 
the States or local interests advance funds 
to an amount of at least one-half the 
estimated cost. 



Utah Acts on Boulder Dam 
Legislation 

The Utah Legislature under date of 
March 5, 1929, passed Senate Concurrent 
Memorial No. 3, which was signed by 
Governor Dern, memorializing the Secre- 
tary of the Interior to survey and classify 
agricultural lands in the upper basin of the 
Colorado River system, taking in 1 1n- 
states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and 
New Mexico, with a view to dividing 
intelligently and equitably the 7,500,000 
acre feet of water allocated to the upper- 
basin States under the terms of the Boul- 
der Dam act. Ratification of the com- 
pact by Utah took place about the same 
time. 



April, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



55 



Appropriations for the Bureau of Reclamation for the Fiscal Year Ending 

June 30, 1930 



THE following sums are appropriated 
out of the special fund in the Treas- 
ury of the United States created by the 
act of June 17, 1902, and therein desig- 
nated "the reclamation fund," lo he 
available immediately : 

Commissioner of Reclamation, $10,000; 
and other personal services in the District 
of Columbia, $140,000; for office expenses 
in the District of Columbia, $23,000; in all, 
$173,000. 

For expenses, except membership fees, 
of attendance upon meetings of technical 
and professional societies required in con- 
nection with official work of the bureau, 
$1,000 of the unexpended balance of 
appropriations for this purpose for the 
fiscal year 1929 is continued available for 
the fiscal year 1930. 

For all expenditures authorized by the 
act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat., p. 388), 
and acts amendatory thereof or supple- 
mentary thereto, known as the reclama- 
tion law, and all other acts under which 
expenditures from said fund are author- 
ized, including not to exceed $178,000 for 
personal services and $27,000 for other 
expenses in the office of the chief engineer, 
$25,000 for telegraph, telephone, and 
other communication service, $8,000 for 
photographing and making photographic 
prints, $54,000 for personal services, and 
$12,000 for other expenses in the field legal 
offices; examination of estimates for ap- 
propriations in the field; refunds of over- 
collections and deposits for other purposes; 
not to exceed $20,000 for lithographing, 
engraving, printing, and binding; pur- 
chase of ice; purchase of rubber boots for 
official use by employees; maintenance 
and operation of horse-drawn and motor- 
propelled passenger-carrying vehicles; not 
to exceed $40,000 for purchase of horse- 
drawn and motor-propelled passenger- 
carrying vehicles; packing, crating, and 
transportation (including drayage) of 
personal effects of employees upon per- 
manent change of station, under regula- 
tions to be prescribed by the Secretary of 
the Interior; payment of damages caused 
to the owners of lands or other private 
property of any kind by reason of the 
operations of the United States, its officers 
or employees, in the survey, construction, 
operation, or maintenance of irrigation 
works, and which may be compromised by 
agreement between the claimant and the 
Secretary of the Interior, or such officers 
as he may designate; payment for official 
telephone service in the field hereafter 
incurred in case of official telephones in- 



Act approved March 4, 1929 

stalled in private houses when authorized 
under regulations established by the Secre- 
tary of the Interior: Provided, That no 
part of said appropriations may be used 
for maintenance of headquarters for the 
Bureau of Reclamation outside the Dis- 
trict of Columbia except for an office for 
the chief engineer and staff and for certain 
field officers of the division of reclamation 
economics: Provided further, That the 
Secretary of the Interior in his adminis- 
tration of the Bureau of Reclamation is 
authorized to contract for medical atten- 
tion and service for employees and to make 
necessary pay-roll deductions agreed to by 
the employees therefor: Provided further, 
That no part of any sum provided for in 
this act for operation and maintenance of 
any project or division of a project by the 
Bureau of Reclamation shall be used for 
the irrigation of any lands within the 
boundaries of an irrigation district which 
has contracted with the Bureau of Recla- 
mation and which is in arrears for more 
than twelve months in the payment of any 
charges due the United States, and no part 
of any sum provided for in this act for 
such purpose shall be used for the irriga- 
tion of any lands which have contracted 
with the Bureau of Reclamation and 
which are in arrears for more than twelve 
months in the payment of any charges due 
from said lands to the United States. 

Examination and inspection of projects: 
For examination of accounts and inspec- 
tion of the works of various projects and 
divisions of projects operated and main- 
tained by irrigation districts or water 
users' associations, and bookkeeping, 
accounting, clerical, legal, and other 
expenses incurred in accordance with 
contract provisions for the repayment of 
such expenses by the districts or associa- 
tions, $40,000. 

For operation and maintenance of the 
reserved works of a project or division of 
a project when irrigation districts, water- 
users' associations, or Warren Act con- 
tractors have contracted to pay in advance 
but have failed to pay their proportionate 
share of the cost of such operation and 
maintenance, to be expended under regu- 
lations to be prescribed by the Secretary 
of the Interior, the unexpended balance 
of the appropriation for this purpose for 
the fiscal year 1929 is continued available 
for the same purpose for the fiscal year 
1930. 

Yuma project, Arizona-California: For 
operation and maintenance, $275,000; for 
continuation of construction of drainage, 



$20,000; in all, $295,000: Provided, That 
not to exceed $25,000 from the power 
revenues shall be available during the 
fiscal year 1930 for the operation and 
maintenance of the commercial system. 

Orland project, California: For opera- 
tion and maintenance, $38,000. 

Grand Valley project, Colorado: Not 
to exceed $15,000 of the unexpended 
balance of the appropriation of $75,000, 
for the fiscal year 1929, is hereby made 
available for continuation of construction 
during the fiscal year 1930. 

Boise project, Idaho: The unexpended 
balance of the appropriation of $400,000 
for continuation of investigations and 
construction, Payette division, for the 
fiscal year 1928 and of the appropriation 
of $400,000 for continuation of construc- 
tion for the fiscal year 1929 shall continue 
available during the fiscal year 1930 for 
construction of the Payette division, and 
of the unexpended balance of the appro- 
priation for this project for the fiscal year 
1927 there is reappropriated for operation 
and maintenance, Payette division, 
$20,000; for examinat'on and surveys, 
Payette division, $6,000; for continua- 
tion of construction, Arrowrock division, 
$60,000: Provided That all net revenues 
derived from the operation of the Black 
Canyon power plant shall be applied to 
the repayment of the construction cost: 
First, of the Deadwood Reservoir; second, 
the Black Canyon power plant and power 
system; and third, one-half the cost of the 
Black Canyon Dam, until the United 
States shall have been reimbursed for all 
expenditures made incident thereto. 
Thereafter, all net revenues shall be 
covered into the reclamation fund unless 
and until otherwise directed by Congress. 
No charge shall be made against any 
irrigation district for the cost of construc- 
tion of the said Deadwood Reservoir, the 
Black Canyon power plant and power 
system, or more than one-half the cost of 
the Black Canyon Dam. 

Minidoka project, Idaho: For operation 
and maintenance, reserved works, $45,000; 
continuation of construction, gravity ex- 
tension unit, $300,000, together with 
$1,200,000 of the unexpended balances of 
the appropriations for the fiscal years 1928 
and 1929 for construction of power plant 
at American Falls: Provided, That not to 
exceed $50,000 from the power revenues 
shall be available during the fiscal year 
1930, for the operation of the commercial 
system; and not to exceed $175,000 from 
power revenues shall be available during 



56 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



April, 1929 



the fiscal year 1930 for continuation of 
construction, South Side Division, and 
for enlargement of the power system; in 
all, $345,000. 

Milk River project, Montana: For 
operation and maintenance, Chinook and 
Malta divisions, $17,000; continuation of 
construction, $17,000; in all, $34,000. 

Sun River project, Montana: For op- 
eration and maintenance, $20,000 con- 
tinuation of construction, $500,000; in all, 
$520,000: Provided, That the appropria- 
tion for continuation of construction for 
the fiscal year 1929 shall remain available 
for the fiscal year 1930, for the purposes 
for which originally appropriated: Pro- 
vided further, That on or before July 1, 
1929, notice shall be given by the Secre- 
tary of the Interior requiring the water 
users to assume the control of the con- 
structed works on January 1, 1931, and 
to commence payment of construction 
charges in accordance with the contract 
of June 22, 1926, between the United 
States and the Greenfields irrigation 
district. 

Lower Yellowstone project, Montana- 
North Dakota: For completion of drain- 
age system, $195,000. 

North Platte project, Nebraska-Wyo- 
ming: Not to exceed $75,000 from 
the power revenues shall be available 
during the fiscal year 1930 for the oper- 
ation and maintenance of the commercial 
system. 

Newlands project, Nevada: That such 
portion as may be necessary of the unex- 
pended balance of the appropriation of 
$50,000 for the survey and examination 
of water storage reservoir sites on the 
headwaters of the Truckee and Carson 
Rivers, made available under the provi- 
sions of the second deficiency act, 1928 
(Public, Numbered 563, Session Laws, 
first session, Seventieth Congress, page 
902, Newlands project, Nevada), shall also 
be available for the boring of test wells 
in the Truckee Meadows, Washoe County, 
near the city of Reno, Nevada. 

Carlsbad project, New Mexico: For 
operation and maintenance, $50,000: Pro- 
vided, That no part of the appropriation 
of $250,000 contained in the act of May 
29, 1928 (45 Stat., p. 902), for beginning 
the enlargement of Avalon Reservoir shall 
be available until contract is entered into 
between the Secretary of the Interior and 
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rail- 
way System, whereby said system agrees 
to pay one-half of the cost of relocating 
the tracks and right of way of said system 
where made necessary by said enlargement 
of the reservoir. Such appropriation of 
$250,000 shall continue available for the 
fiscal year 1930. 

Rio Grande project, New Mexico-Texas: 
For operation and maintenance, $250,000, 



together with $125,000 of the unexpended 
balances of the appropriations available 
for continuation of construction during the 
fiscal year 1929. 

Owyhce project, Oregon: For continua- 
tion of construction, $2,000,000. 

Baker project, Oregon: The unex- 
pended balance of the appropriation for 
this project for the fiscal year 1929 is 
reappropriated and made available for the 
same purpose for the fiscal year 1930. 

Vale project, Oregon: For operation 
and maintenance, $6,000; for the purchase 
of a proportionate interest in the existing 
storage reservoir of the Warm Springs 
project, $230,000; in all, $236,000. 

Klamath project, Oregon-California: 
For operation and maintenance, $40,000; 
continuation of construction, $301,000: 
Provided, That the unexpended balance of 
the appropriation of $30,000 for the fiscal 
year 1929 for refunds to lessees of marginal 
lands, Tule Lake, which lands because of 
flooding could not be seeded prior to June 
1, 1927, and/or June 1, 1928, shall remain 
available for the same purposes for the 
fiscal year 1930, and shall also be available 
for like refunds for lands which could not 
be seeded prior to June 1, 1929; in all, 
$341,000. 

Belle Fourche project, South Dakota: 
For continuation of construction, $335,000. 

Salt Lake Basin project, Utah, first 
division: The unexpended balance of the 
appropriation of $1,750,000 for construc- 
tion of Echo Reservoir and Weber-Provo 
Canal, for the fiscal year 1929, shall 
remain available for the same purposes 
for the fiscal year 1930. 

Yakima project, Washington: For op- 
eration and maintenance, $295,000; con- 
tinuation of construction, $1,000,000; in 
all, $1,295,, 000. 

Yakima project (Kittitas division), 
Washington: For operation and mainte- 
nance, $20,000; for continuation of con- 
struction, $1,112,000: Provided, That the 
unexpended balance of $138,000 of the 
appropriation of $1,500,000 contained in 
the act making appropriations for the 
Department of the Interior for the fiscal 
year 1929 (45 Stat., p. 277), shall remain 
available during the fiscal year 1930 for 
such continuation of construction; in 
all, $1,132,000. 

Riverton project, Wyoming: For opera- 
tion and maintenance, $50,000; continua- 
tion of construction under force account, 
$511,000; Provided, That the unexpended 
balance of the appropriation for continua- 
tion of construction, for the fiscal year 
1929, shall remain available for the fiscal 
year 1930: Provided further, That not to 
exceed $20,000 from the power revenues 
shall be available during the fiscal year 
1930 for the operation and maintenance of 
the commercial system; in all, $561,000. 



Shoshone project, Wyoming: For con- 
tinuation of construction, Willwood divi- 
sion, $44,000; for operation and main- 
tenance, Frannie division, $3,000; Will- 
wood division, $16,000; in all, $63,000: 
Provided, That the unexpended balance 
of the appropriation for drainage con- 
struction, Willwood division, for the 
fiscal year 1929, shall remain available for 
the same purpose for the fiscal year 1930: 
Provided further, That the unexpended 
balances of the appropriations for drain- 
age construction, Garland division, for the 
fiscal years 1927, 1928, and 1929, shall 
remain available for the same purpose for 
the fiscal year 1930: Provided further, 
That not to exceed $20,000 from power 
revenues shall be available during the 
fiscal year 1930 for the operation and 
maintenance of the commercial system; 
and not to exceed $25,000 from power 
revenues shall be available during the 
fiscal year 1930 for the construction of 
transmission lines: Provided further, That 
the net revenues from the operation of the 
Shoshone power plant shall be applied, 
first, to the repayment of the construction 
cost of the power system; second, to the 
repayment of the construction cost of the 
Shoshone Dam; and third, thereafter 
such net revenues shall be covered into the 
reclamation funds. 

Secondary projects: For cooperative 
and general investigations, $75,000. 

The unexpended balance of the appro- 
priation of $100,000 for the fiscal year 
1928 for investigations necessary to de- 
termine the economic conditions and 
financial feasibility of new projects and 
for investigations and other activities 
relating to the reorganization, settlement 
of lands, and financial adjustments of 
existing projects, including examination 
of soils, classification of land, land- 
settlement activities, including advertis- 
ing in newspapers and other publications, 
and obtaining general economic and 
settlement data, is hereby made available 
for the same purposes for the fiscal year 
1930: Provided, That the expenditures, 
from this appropriation for any reclama- 
tion project shall be considered as sup- 
plementary to the appropriation for 
that project and shall be accounted for 
and returned to the reclamation fund as 
other expenditures under the recla- 
mation act. 

Refunds of construction charges: The 
unexpended balance of the appropriation 
of $100,000 contained in the first defi- 
ciency act, fiscal year 1928, for refunds of 
construction charges theretofore paid on 
permanently, unproductive lands excluded 
from the Federal reclamation projects 
specified in the Act approved May 25, 
1926 (U. S. C., Supp. I, p. 265, sec. 423a), 
in accordance with section 42 of said act, 



April, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



57 



is hereby made available for the same 
purposes for the fiscal year 1930. 

That the Secretary of the Interior be, 
and he hereby is, authorized and directed 
to credit the Farmers' Irrigation District 
with the sum of $2,376.45, as of January 
1, 1927, which represents 50 per cent of the 
expenses incurred by said district in oper- 
ating and maintaining the Nine Mile 
Drain from January 1 to June 30, 1926, 
under contract with said district dated 
June 16, 1917, in connection with the 
North Platte project, Nebraska- Wyoming. 

Under the provisions of this act no 
greater sum shall be expended, nor shall 
the United States be obligated to expend 
during the fiscal year 1930, on any recla- 
mation project appropriated for herein, 
an amount in excess of the sum herein 
appropriated therefor, nor shall the whole 
expenditures or obligations incurred for 
all of such projects for the fiscal year 1930 
exceed the whole amount in the "recla- 
mation fund" for the fiscal year. 

Ten per centum of the foregoing 
amounts shall be available interchange- 
ably for expenditures on the reclamation 
projects named; but not more than 10 



per centum shall be added to the amount 
appropriated for any one of said projects, 
except that, should existing works or the 
water supply for lands under cultivation 
be endangered by floods or other unusual 
conditions, an amount sufficient to make 
necessary emergency repairs shall become 
available for expenditure by further trans- 
fer of appropriation from any of said proj- 
ects upon approval of the Secretary of 
the Interior. 

Whenever, during the fiscal year ending 
June .30, 1930, the Commissioner of the 
Bureau of Reclamation shall find that the 
expenses of travel, including the local 
transportation of employees to and from 
their homes to the places where they are 
engaged on construction or operation 
and maintenance work, can be reduced 
thereby, he may authorize the payment 
of not to exceed 3 cents per mile for a 
motor cycle or 7 cents per mile for an 
automobile used for necessary official 
business. 

Total, from reclamation fund, $7,978,- 
000. 

To defray the cost of operating and 
maintaining the Colorado River front 



work and levee system adjacent to the 
Yuma Federal irrigation project in Arizona 
and California, subject only to section 4 
of the act entitled "An act authorizing 
the construction, repair, and preservation 
of certain public works on rivers and 
harbors, and for other purposes," approved 
January 21, 1927 (44 Stat. p. 1010), 
$100,000, to be immediately available. 



A NNOUNCEMENT has been made 
^*- that the terminal facilities of the 
Union Pacific Railroad at Gering, North 
Platte project, Nebraska, will be greatly 
increased. Construction work on the 
terminal facilities was begun last season, 
but it is announced that the amount of 
work now contemplated is greatly in 
excess of that originally proposed. 



E Great Northern Railway has filed 
application with the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission for the extension of its 
line from Klamath Falls, Oreg., to connect 
with the proposed extension of the Western 
Pacific in northern California. 





Scale of Faet 
o I t 3 4 5 



FRONT ELEVATION 




SIDE ELEVATION 



REAR. ELEVATION 



Design of 5-rooru cottage for reclamation project settlers 



58 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



April, 1929 



Electric Power Development on the Newlands Project, Nevada 

By A. W. Walter, Superintendent 



AT the close of December. 1928, ap- 
proximately 500 farms on the New- 
lands project, Nevada, were being sup- 
plied with electric power. To furnish 
tills service the Truckee-Carson irrigation 
district, which took over the operation 
and maintenance of the project on January 
1, 1927, has built and acquired and is 
opeiating 175 miles of electric trans- 
mission lines. 

The irrigation district builds and 
operates its electric lines through au- 
thority and power granted by section 
49^ of the Nevada irrigation district act. 
The project lands or farm units are 
divided into several improvement districts 
formed when sentiment in a particular 
locality becomes ripe for securing electric 
service, at which time the terms of the 
act are complied with and construction 
soon follows. Three months are entailed 
from the time of formation of a district 
to the beginning of construction. 

In the apportionment of benefits or 
costs, those interested in the improve- 
ment districts expressed a preference to 
having the distribution of construction 
charges made on a unit rather than on an 
acreage basis, as it may readily be under- 
stood that the occupant of a 40-acre 
farm might use and require fully as 
much electricity as his neighbor on a 160- 
acre tract, depending on the nature of 
the agriculture in which each is engaged. 

To date the necessary lines and con- 
struction have been built for five im- 
provement districts and the town of 
Fernley. Thirty-one miles of individual 
lines constructed by individual farmers 



several years ago have been acquired by 
the district, which operates and main- 
tains them. Preparations and plans for 
the proposed construction and extension 
of lines to three additional improvement 
districts and the town of \\adsworth are 
well underway. With one exception the 
measures as subjected to vote have 
carried by large majorities in the im- 
provement districts organized. 

COST OF CONSTRUCTION 

The total cost of construction of 
electric lines to February 1, 1929, was 
$145,252.12. Funds for financing this 
construction were provided by the sale 
of improvement district bonds, interest 
bearing warrants issued by the Truckee- 
Carson irrigation district, and funds ad- 
vanced by the district. The faith of the 
community in this venture is evidenced 
by the facts that the funds were provided 
as follows: 

Paid in cash by landowners. _ $4, 712. 78 

Bonds purchased by local in- 
dividuals 32, 200. 00 

Bonds purchased by local 

bank 86,400.00 

Interest-bearing warrants pur- 
chased by local bank 15, 000. 00 

Funds advanced by district. . 6, 939. 34 



Total.. 145,252. 12 

The bonds which carry 6 per cent were 
all sold at par plus accrued interest and 
are issued in $100 and $500 denomina- 
tions. The bonds are to be retired in 
12 years, installment payments to be 




Single-phase substation, electric power system, Truckee-Carson irrigation district 



collected under apportionment of benefits 
as taxes by the county treasurer. Only 
interest is collected the first two years. 

The cost of constructing all of the power 
lines to date averages about $850 per 
mile, which includes necessary substa- 
tions, transformers, and an average of 
two consumers' units per mile. Cost of 
energy to the farmers is 5 cents per kilo- 
watt-hour for the first 30 kilowatt-hours 
per meter per month, which provides a 
minimum monthly charge of 81.50. The 
next 30 kilowatt-hours is at the rate of 
4 cents per kilowatt-hour and all over 
60 kilowatt-hours at 3 cents per kilowatt- 
hour. During the month of December, 
1928, the average individual farm con- 
sumption was 65 kilowatt-hours, which at 
current rates gives an average charge of 
$2.85 per month. These meters have been 
operating a comparatively short time and 
present indications point to a much larger 
average use as soon as the consumers pur- 
chase contemplated additional equipment. 
A private concern is preparing a 115-horse- 
power alfalfa-meal mill, operation of which 
began about March 1, operating 20 hours 
per day. The average cost to the indi- 
vidual consumer for lines, transformer, 
meters, etc., installed, is approximately 
$400 per installation. 

The district has expended approxi- 
mately $22,000 to provide substations 
and a small portion of the main distribu- 
tion system to provide electricity at 
distribution voltage to which the various 
local improvement districts can connect. 

Construction in the improvement dis- 
tricts was done by contract, after 
advertisement, etc., as required by the 
irrigation district act, under definite 
plans and specifications issued by the 
Truckee-Carson irrigation district, which 
employs a special engineer to supervise 
the power line extensions and distribution 
system. The improvement districts have 
received material benefits by having the 
work done by contract as a result of 
competitive bidding. After construction 
is completed in each improvement district 
the operation and maintenance is trans- 
ferred to the Truckee-Carson irrigation 
district, which assumes the position of a 
public utility. 

Consumers' units are constructed ac- 
cording to standard plans, which provide 
complete transformer and meter equip- 
ment from which unit a farmer can obtain 
110 or 220 volt, single-phase power. It 
has been determined by past experience 
that a 5-kilovolt-ampere transformer will 



April, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



59 



supply the requirements of the average 
farm on this project. 

TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION 

The entire distribution system is 
typical of Hie usual wood pole line. 
Poles average 20 to the mile and are butt 
treated (J^ inch guaranteed penetration), 
30, 35, and 40 feet in length, having 6, 7, 
and 8 inch top diameters. Western red 
cedar cross arms are standard and con- 
form to National Electric Light Asso- 
ciation's specifications. All conductors 
are copper wire; those larger than No. 8 
B. and S. gauge are stranded. Metallic 
return circuit on the Y connected system 
is used and all pole-line hardware is 
standard galvanized. Lines constructed 
and in operation include 20 miles of 
3-phase, 4-wire, 11950/6900-volt line 
using No. 6, 3-strand, bare, hard-drawn, 
copper wire, also 16 miles of 3-phase, 
3-wire, 6600-volt line using No. 4, 7- 
strand, bare, hard-drawn, copper wire. 
The tap lines, all of which are single 
phase (2-wire), are constructed using No. 
8 solid copper wire, unless, owing to 
length, voltage, and future requirements, 
larger wire is necessary. 

The Truckee-Carson irrigation district is 
subject to the rules and regulations of the 
Public (Service Commission of Nevada, and 
as such may be classed as a public utility. 
The certificate of public convenience and 
necessity granted to the district by the 
Public Service Commission of Nevada des- 
ignates "The territory embraced in said 
Newlands reclamation project * * * 
including the towns of Fernley and 
Wadsworth and the vicinity thereof." 

Power for the district is obtained from 
the Nevada Valleys Power Co. which 
maintains a 33,000-volt transmission 
line, about 16 miles in length, extending 
from the power plant at Lahontan Dam 
to a substation directly south of the town 
of Fallon. Delivery of power is taken at 
four points on this transmission line and 
also at the power company's Hazen sub- 
station, which is on a transmission line 
from Lahontan Dam to Lovelock. 

The above data were secured from 
D. S. Stuver, district manager, and 
M. S. Huggins, electrical engineer of the 
district. A great deal of credit is due 
them for the successful electrical develop- 
ment on the project. 



T^XCAVATION of the Owyhee Dam 
-*-^ abutment key way has been confined 
to the east side of the canyon, where con- 
siderable progress has been made. The 
southwest abutment work will be resumed 
after danger of choking the river channel 
with ddbris is past. 




Three-phase substation, electric power system, Truckee-Carson irrigation district 

Irrigation in Foreign Countries 



"C^OREIGN markets for irrigation ma- 
* chinery. Trade Promotion Series 
No. 73, industrial machinery division, 
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 
merce, Department of Commerce. Illus- 
trated; 156 pages, with introduction by 
Elwood Mead, Commissioner of Reclama- 
tion, on significance of irrigation. This re- 
port includes a description of irrigation in 
about 100 countries, together with tables 
of data giving area, population, and area 
irrigated. Price, 30 cents. Superintend- 
ent of Documents, Government Printing 
Office, Washington, D. C. 

This publication was compiled by W. I. 
Swanton, assistant engineer in the engin- 
eering division of the Washington office of 
the Bureau of Reclamation in coopera- 
tion with the industrial machinery division 
of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic 
Commerce, from reports received from 
United States consuls and trade com- 
missioners in the various countries. It 
contains a brief introductory article by 
Commissioner Elwood Mead on the 
significance of irrigation and a foreword 
by Director Julius Klein, of the Bureau 
of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. 

The bulletin is arranged in six parts, 
one for each of the continents of the world, 
and a brief description is given of each 
country, its agricultural and climatic con- 
ditions, crops raised, irrigation projects, 
Government supervision, irrigation by 
wells, financing and costs, methods of 
irrigation, plans for future irrigation and 
opportunities for sale of machinery and 
equipment. 

The entire area irrigated at the present 
time throughout the world is estimated to 
be about 200,000,000 acres, which is 
briefly summarized as follows: 



Continent 


Area 


Population 


Area 
irrigated 


North America_. _ 
South America... 
Kurope 


Square 
mites 
8, 685, 833 
7, 169. 587 
3,723,081 
16, 217, 166 
11,514,050 
3, 307, 940 


i:.7, ISO, 526 
(19. 7l'.i. i;i:> 
477, 560. 161 
1.1K7, N54, 722 
143.335.419 
9,0211. :X) 


Acres 
26.834,000 
6, 613. 000 
14,800,000 
140, 754, 000 
10. 310, 000 
1, 270, 000 


Asia 


Africa 


Oceania 


Total... 


50. 617.65?! 1.894. 979. 773 


200. 581. 000 



A table is included for each continent, 
giving the area and population of each 
country and area irrigated. 

A large number of illustrations of irriga- 
tion in foreign countries and dams built 
and under construction and views of 
machinery of various types in use are also 
included. 

While the bulletin was compiled pri- 
marily for the purpose of aiding in the 
machinery export business of the United 
States, the report should prove of interest 
to engineers and to students of economics 
and irrigation. 

The Bureau of Reclamation has a lim- 
ited number of copies of this bulletin 
available for free distribution to persons 
interested as long as the supply lasts. 

The following foreword to the publi- 
cation was prepared by Commissioner 
Mead: 

Significance of Irrigation 

BY ELWOOD MEAD. COMMISSIONER, 
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 

The practice of irrigation is older than 
recorded history. Civilizations of which 
we have the earliest written records grew 
and flourished on the banks of irrigation 
canals, and the most ancient records of 
these far-distant civilizations bear unmis- 



60 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



April, K'29 



takablc evidence that the practice of irri- 
gation had even then resulted in the crys- 
tallization of laws, rules, and regulations 
concerning the use and distribution of 
water. Four thousand years ago Ham- 
murabi, perhaps the most renowned of 
Babylon's great rulers, promulgated a code 
of laws relating to irrigation, from which 
the following extracts are taken: 

"If anyone is too lazy to keep his dikes 
in order and fails to do so, and if a breach 
is made in his dike and the fields have 
been flooded with water, the man in whose 
dike the breach was opened shall replace 
the grain which he has destroyed. 

"If he is not able to replace the grain, 
he and his property shall be sold, and the 
people whose grain the wate* carried off 
shall share the proceeds. 

"If anyone opens his irrigation canals 
to let in water, but is careless and the 
water floods the field of his neighbor, he 
shall measure out grain to the latter in 
proportion to the yield of the neighboring 
field." 

At the time when most of Europe and 
the high plains of Asia were the abode of 
half-clad nomadic, barbaric tribes, with 
little cohesion save that of the family 
unit, the splendor of the civilizations on 
the banks of the Tigris, the Euphrates, and 
the Nile was being written in cuneiform 
and hieroglyphics to astound the arche- 
ologist of later centuries. 

The foundation of this comparatively 
high civilization was irrigation. Its 
decline and fall may readily be attributed 
to a score of causes, but throughout it all, 
like a silver thread, ran the irrigation 
canal, under whose benign influence 
cooperation flourished and individual 
effort was coordinated. 

From these relatively small beginnings 
irrigation to-day is a world force to be 
reckoned with in every appraisal of the 
factors involved in economic advance- 
ment. On every continent and on many 
isles of the sea irrigation is practiced, and 
wherever it is practiced the general, level 
of civilization, from the standpoint of the 
cooperative relations of individual with 
individual, is higher than on adjacent 
nonirrigated land. This cooperation is the 
normal result of the use of irrigation 
systems which are not adapted to indi- 
vidual construction and operation. Pio- 
neers in irrigation from the earliest times 
have found that the irrigation canal im- 
posed of necessity cooperation in their 
agricultural and industrial organization. 

To-day the irrigated area throughout the 
world comprises some 200,000,000 acres. 
Of the continents, Asia stands first witli 
more than 140,000,000 acres, or 70 per 
cent of the total, followed by North 
America with nearly 27,000,000 acres, of 
which the United States is responsible for 
more than 20,000,000 acres. 



New Maps Available 

A map of the Owr/hee irrigation 
project, Oregon, has just come from the 
press in three colors, showing in addi- 
tion to the usual features, seven irriga- 
tion districts, a cross section of the 
Owyhee Dam and topography of the 
dam site. This project map is issued in 
two sizes, No. 28800, 10^4 by 17 inches 
at 10 cents per copy, and No. 23800- A, 
21 by 33 inches at 25 cents. 

A map of the Lower Colorado River 
Imperial Valley, and Boulder Can- 
yon Reservoir, No. 23530- A, size 
16 by 35 inches, scale 9 miles to 1 inch, 
price 25 cents. This map has a red 
overprint giving considerable data on 
various features of the Boulder Canyon 
project. 



On the basis of irrigated acreage per 
100 square miles of territory, Asia again 
ranks first with 868 acres, followed by 
Europe with 398 acres, and North Amer- 
ica with 310. On the basis of irrigated 
acreage per ' 1,000 population North 
America leads the continents of the world 
with 170 acres, and the United States is 
even higher, with 175 acres of irrigated 
land to every 1,000 persons in its popu- 
lation. 

What the future holds in store we can 
only surmise. The history of civiliza- 
tion has been closely bound up with the 
growth and extent of irrigation. Arid 
lands, otherwise incapable of producing 
crops, have become, through irrigation, 
the centers of flourishing agricultural and 
industrial development, which have left 
an enduring stamp on the economic life 
of nations. Increasing population calls 
insistently for increasing means of produc- 
ing an adequate food supply. At the 
present time this necessity is discounted 
by our agricultural surplus. But the 
world, and the United States in particular, 
if we are to retain a commanding position 
in the economic life of the great nations 
of the world, must take stock of the future 
and be fully prepared to meet this neces- 
sity when it arises. Better methods of 
agriculture, better machinery, more ef- 
ficient handling of the problems of crop 
rotation will answer the need for a time, 
but in the light of present-day knowledge 
the promise of the future lies in the irriga- 
tion canal as a means of extending our 
potentially productive area and keeping 
pace with the demands of an ever-increas- 
ing population. 

Hammurabi wrote on a clay cylinder 
his views of the importance of irrigation 
in the economic life of Babylon. His 
message is as pertinent to-day as it was 



4,000 years ago. It may also stand as a 
prophecy for the future. 

"I have made water flow in the dry- 
channels and have given an unfailing sup- 
ply to the people. I have changed desert 
plains into well-watered land. I have 
given them fertility and plenty and made 
them the abode of happiness." From- 
Trade Promotion Bulletin No. 73, Depart- 
ment of Commerce. 



Group Effort by Farmers 

in Buying and Selling 

Group action is required in certain 
phases of the farmers' business to-day. 
Any forward-looking program must con- 
sider efficient production, economical 
marketing and purchasing, and better 
living, according to Chris L. Christensen,. 
of the Department of Agriculture. 

Farm production under present-day 
agricultural conditions is primarily an 
individual act, but marketing farm prod- 
ucts and purchasing farm supplies can be 
done most effectively through group 
action. The American farm of to-day is 
no longer a self-sufficing unit. Many 
farmers are specializing in the production 
of a single crop, and must purchase most 
of their food. Cash outlays for feed, 
fertilizers, farm machinery, and seed also- 
form a large part of the expense of oper- 
ating many farms. Group action is 
required in both the purchase of supplies 
and the marketing of products. 

Cooperative organization enables farm- 
ers to apply modern business methods to- 
the assembling, grading, financing, dis- 
tributing, and selling of farm products. 
The farmer as an individual has no 
control over the conditions under which 
his crops or livestock products are sold, 
whereas farmers associated in groups are 
in a position to exert such control and to 
secure the results of more efficient 
marketing. 



DURING the winter there has been a 
noticeable increase in the demand 
for Belle Fourche farms, coming mostly 
from prospective tenants desirous of 
raising sugar beets or engaging in live- 
stock farming, and all places with suitable 
buildings have been taken. This demand 
will no doubt lead to further building 
operations, which heretofore have been 
somewhat slow. 



/CONSIDERABLE alfalfa seed will be 
'-' sown on the Willwood division of the 
Shoshone project this spring. The farm- 
ers have pooled their order. They will 
need about a ton of alfalfa seed and are 
going to plant seed grown in Argentina. 



April, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



61 




Reclamation Project Women and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Agricultural Facts on Sudden 



FORTY per cent of Sweden's popula- 
tion, of over 6,000,000, is engaged in 
agriculture, about 240,000 being owners ' 
and 57,000 tenants of the land they 
cultivate. The average individual holding 
is 25 hektar. 

The agricultural land is mostly in the 
southern part of Sweden, central Sweden 
having some mining, and northern Sweden 
being practically devoted to forestation 
projects of pine, birch, and fir, principally. 
These projects make possible a thriving 
industry of wood pulp and paper, which 
are chief exports. 

In general appearance Sweden is very 
much like its neighboring country Den- 
mark. Here, too, there is considerable 
dairying, but Sweden has Holstein herds 
exclusively. 

Women are engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. The Swedish woman and her 
daughter who posed with the writer are 
employees of the plant culture firm of 
W. Weibull of Landskrona, southern 
Sweden, where the photograph, which is 
reproduced here, was taken last summer 
on the occasion of the visit to the plant of 
a party of agricultural and home economics 
teachers, farmers, and business men from 
the United States. Such exacting and 
patience-trying duties as transplanting 
of tiny sprouts in hotbeds are performed 
by women. They work for small pay. 
These two are typical natives, friendly 
and obliging always. 

A very instructive tour of the plant 
and experimental fields was led by Dr. 
Carl Hallquist, one of the firm's special- 
ists. The educational campaigns carried 
on by the staff of trained specialists of 
this firm have done much to bring about j 
more intelligent farming in Sweden, with ! 
consequent larger and better crops. ' 
Success of the farmer meant expansion 
and a healthy financial condition for the . 
plant culture firm. 

HOME ECONOMICS TRAINING IN SWEDEN 

For the benefit principally of the home 
economics teachers, a trip was made to a i 
home economics school organized on a 
practical plan. A building, very similar 
to a home, with added space for grouping 
of pupils for lectures and study periods, 
surrounded by land for outdoor work 
and play, was inspected. 

The girls are admitted to instruction 
at the age of 15. The course includes 




rkers in Sweden 



housekeeping in all its phases, planning 
of meals, cooking, budgeting, child care, 
etc. Each girl is required to assume the 
responsibility of a section of the house 
set up as an apartment for a family of 
four. 

The nursery was found attended by 
pupils, under the care of child specialists. 
This is in the class of our regular day 
nurseries; i. e., children of mothers who 
are employed during the day are left at 
the nursery, and thus the opportunity is 
afforded the pupils to observe how to 
care for them. 

Care of poultry, milking of cows, and 
gardening are taught. The experimental 
plots surrounding the school were small 
and well kept. Competition was keen 
in vieing for first honors in appearance 
and results of assigned plots. The future 
home makers seemed happy in training. 



" YAKIMA BEAUTY" 

That is the designation won by this 
Rhode Island Red pullet at the poultry 
show held in Yakima, Wash., December 
31, 1928, to January 5, 1929. She scored 
91 J4 points and was judged by Mr. C. A. 
Greenfield of Butte, Mont. The proud 
owner of this champion of Yakima 
County is Mr. J. B. Harness. 

A novel feature of the show was the 
offering of a special prize to the lady 
whose hair came the nearest to matching 
the color of "Yakima Beauty." Eleven 
red-haired ladies competed and the prize 
was won by Miss Louise Shea of Yakima, 
shown in the picture. In her selection 
Mr. L. B. Kelly, president of the Yakima 
Chamber of Commerce, was the judge. 



"ll/TANY baby chicks, forerunners of 
i-'-"- early laying hens, ha>ve been ordered 
by the poultrymen of the Newlands 
project, and several shipments have al- 
ready arrived. Poultry business on 
this project is on a firmer basis than 
ever, and many growers plan increases in 
flocks. 




. Champion Bird^ 



J t> Harness 



nt, 



Champion bird of Yakima County J. B. Harness, 
Yakima 

Rio Grande Project 

Advertised on KOB 

The advantages of the Elephant Butte 
irrigated district, Rio Grande project, New 
Mexico-Texas, and its opportunities for 
the up-and-coming farmer are being 
broadcast from radio station KOB, in a 
series of lectures given by Professor Bre- 
land, of the New Mexico College of Agri- 
culture, sponsored by the Las Cruces 
Chamber of Commerce. These lectures 
are planned to interest the tourist, the 
homeseeker, and the school children in New 
Mexico "The State Nobodv Knows." 



62 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



April, H-2 



Paper-Shell Pecan Development on the Yuma Project, Arizona-California 

By R. M. Priest, Superintendent 



THE growing of paper-shell pecans on 
tlu> Yuma project has great possi- 
bilities of developing into one of the major 
crops of the project. The growing of this 
nut is beyond the experimental stage. It 
has been demonstrated that the soil and 
climate are well adapted to the satis- 
factory production in commercial quan- 
tities of the paper-shell pecan. There 
are some seedlings in Yuma Valley that 
are 35 years old and are in healthy, vig- 
orous condition. Additional acreage is 
being prepared and planted each year, 
witli groves scattered over the project 
and growing satisfactorily. At present 
more than 500 acres are planted to this 
crop, of which 170 produced this past 
year. 

The exceptional quality, large crops, 
and attractive returns will make the grow- 
ing of pecans a very desirable business 
on this project. The cost of developing 
a pecan orchard is nominal compared 
with that of other similar crops. Nursery 
stock is being grown on the project for 
anticipated plantings, but the demand has 
been so great that California stock has 
been imported at prices of $2.50 to $3.50 
per tree. These trees usually have a 
3-year-old root system and are from 3 to 
4 feet tall. As the pecan land on the 
Yuma project has been leveled, ditched, 
and prepared for the growing of other 
crops, little additional expense is neces- 



sary to arrange it for pecan planting. 
Therefore, this cost is nominal. 

BEST VARIETIES FOR YUMA 

The propagation of the trees has reached 
a point where some varieties are known 
to be well adapted to this climate and 
soil. It is folly to plant the seed and 
expect to have the tree come true to type. 
The proper method to pursue is to procure 
from a reliable nursery budded stock of 
the proper variety and be assured that 
when the age of production is reached it 
will produce quality and quantity of a 
commercial value. 

The varieties that have been proven so 
far on this project to meet the require- 
ments from a commercial standpoint are 
the Halbert, Kincaid, Burkett, and 
Success. These, out of 12 varieties ex- 
perimented with in the past seven years, 
have shown by their growth, production, 
and quality of product to be the best 
adapted to this locality. At the annual 
pecan show of the Brazos Valley Pecan 
Growers' Association held at Eastland, 
Tex., in November, 1927, with an exhibit 
of six varieties from Yuma Valley, Ariz., 
prizes won by the project included two 
firsts, one second, one third, and the 
champion prize. The significant part of 
this is that the Yuma project exhibit was 
from trees in competition with their par- 
ent trees in Texas. The four varieties 




Seven-year-old pecan grove, Yuma project, Arizona-California 



of the paper-shell pecan mentioned above 
are in reality soft shelled, no difficulty is 
had in removing the shell from the meat of 
the nut, and they are found to be fully 
developed and filled. Three of them end 
to end measure 5 inches, and 28 weigh 
1 pound. 

HOW TO PLANT 

Pecan trees are long lived and will 
grow to a height of 40 to 60 feet with a 
spread of 50 to 75 feet. They, therefore, 
should not be planted closer together than 
50 or 60 feet. This spacing plants from 
12 to 17 trees per acre, which makes this 
cost nominal. The months of December 
and January are the best planting months. 
This early planting gives the root growth 
sufficient time to get well started before 
the foliage comes on. Therefore, the tree 
is assured of enough strength to support 
the foliage put on in the spring. The 
location of each tree should be carefully 
measured and marked with a stake to 
insure perfect alignment. Holes should 
be dug about 2% feet in diametor and 2V 
to 3 feet deep. Before digging tl e holes 
the ground should have been irrigated 10 
days in advance. Care in planting must 
be exercised so that none of the roots are 
left exposed. It is important that the 
trees have plenty of water during the 
first season so that sufficient moisture is 
supplied to the roots in order that a 
healthy and vigorous growth will be 
assured. As it has been found that some 
varieties are sterile, it is advisable to 
interplant two or more varieties to insure 
proper pollination. This may not be 
necessary in this climate, but it is good 
insurance. Attention should be given to 
the proper cultivation of the soil around 
the trees. All weed growth should be 
prevented and the soil kept open for the 
easy penetration of air and moisture. 
Alfalfa straw, green manure crops, or 
other fertilizers, though not necessary in 
our soils, constitute good practice for 
insuring rapid growth. If fertilizers are 
applied this should be done in the late fall. 
Owing to the few trees planted per acre, 
a considerable revenue can be obtained by 
planting between the rows. This gives 
the pecan grower a revenue from a large 
proportion of his land while his grove is 
coming to production. Cotton and alfalfa 
are the usual crops for this purpose, 
alfalfa being the most desirable on account 
of its soil building qualities. Care must 
be exercised in intercropping so that it 
will not be detrimental to the trees, for 
as they grow larger more space is required. 



April, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



63 



YIELD AND HARVESTING 

It is not uncommon for trees that make 
a good growth the first two years to hear 
a few nuts the third and fourth years, 
but yields in commercial quantities can 
not be expected until the sixth or seventh 
year. Records of the yield of one tree 
are as follows: Fourth year, 20 pounds; 
fifth year, 55 pounds; sixth year, 105 
pounds; seventh year, 145 pounds; eighth 
year, 196 pounds. It is estimated that a 
10-year-old tree may produce 500 pounds 
of nuts. The results obtained from any 
one tree can only give an idea of what may 
be expected. 

The cost of planting a pecan grove will 
run from $30 to $50 per acre, depending 
largely upon the price paid for nursery 
stock. In view of the fact that inter- 
cropping is practicable, it can be assumed 
that the intercrop will show a balance 
above the costs of caring for the pecan 
grove until it is a commercial producer. 

The crop is harvested by spreading a 
large canvas on the ground underneath 



the tree to catch the nuts as they are 
dropped from the tree. They are then 
sacked and taken to the packing house 
where they are sized and picked over, 
after which they are sacked for the market. 

It is estimated that only a small per 
cent of the market in the United States 
has ever been supplied with the paper- 
shell pecan, and that the foreign market 
is virgin territory for this product, as 
these nuts are grown only in the United 
States and Mexico. Therefore, no diffi- 
culty is anticipated in marketing this 
crop at lucrative price. Nuts produced 
so far have sold at 50 to 75 cents per 
pound. 

It is difficult at this time to estimate 
the net returns that can be expected from 
the paper-shell pecan on this project, 
but there is no doubt that trees 8 to 10 
years old will net the grower a handsome 
return. 

The meat in the Yuma project product 
is 67 per cent, with 33 per cent of shell. 
This is almost twice as much as is con- 
tained in the best of walnuts. The pecan 



usually found on the market contains but 
20 per cent of meat. 

The American Nut Journal quotes 
Luther Burbank as having said "If I were 
young again I would devote my life to 
propagating new species of pecans. Wal- 
nut culture is the leading horticultural 
product in California, makes more money 
for us, makes it easier than anything else, 
yet the paper-shell pecan is superior to 
our walnut. The longevity of pecan 
orchards and their immense earning 
power make them one of the most profit- 
able and permanent of agricultural 
investments." 



A S a result of a sparrow-poisoning cam- 
^*- paign recently conducted by the 
county agent on the Minidoka project, 
5,375 sparrow heads were brought in by 
the Smith-Hughes boys. The county 
agent's office furnished the poison for 
this campaign and gave demonstrations in 
mixing the poison with wheat, as well as 
instructions in using it. 



Muslin 




4'Verqe Board 



Concrete Foundation- 
FRONT ELEVATION 



6-10-6'lt. Basement Sash 




END ELEVATION! 




A'- 4 Posts 

= = = == = = =5 = : 

6 RaflerSuppor-K 



-24' 



o 



=$o'o'==i 



I' I Cll which hold 
I'Mesh Poultry Nettinq 

-*m 

for Screen i 



!"?' Jamb 



8'"IO'a- Liqht Cellar 

Sash hinijed at top .^ 

--. . 

1 



III 



Wire Netting 




l'2-Plocedatends 
only Screen Nailed <"-i 
to cover them at^eo^ ; f . i6 . 



FLOOR PLAN 



Scale of Feet 



Roosts are hinqed / 
so they can be > 
swunq up ds shown* r-4' 

CROSS SECTION 




.Floor Line __ 



REAR WINDOW DETAILS 
IO'M2"-<5-Liqht Sash 



hinqed at top 



10'' I? 6 liqht Sash 
h in qed at top 



-Sidinc 




PF Nailed 
together with 
\ 
> Muslin in between 



\ \ 

\y-f-2' Nailed toqefher 

,X with I^Mesh Poultry 

\ Netting between 



\ I'* 2 Jdmb 



-' 2-6 S,l 

I 

FRONT WINDOW DETAILS 



6'. 12 ' 
Concrete Pier 



Design of chicken house for use by scttkrs on irrigation projects 



64 



NEW RECLAMATION EUA 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



DR. ELWOOD MEAD, Commissioner 
of Reclamation, and Dr. H. A. 
Brown, assistant director of reclamation 
economics, left Washington on March 8 
to attend the Denver conference March 
13-15. They were joined en route by 
P. W. Dent, assistant commissioner, and 
W. F. Kuhach, chief accountant. On the 
way to Denver Doctor Mead stopped at 
the University of Illinois and the Uni- 
versity of Iowa, and on his return to 
Washington at Purdue and De Pauw 
Universities to address engineering so- 
cieties and others on the proposed de- 
velopment of the Colorado River Basin 
and the construction of Boulder Dam. 
The commissioner returned to the Wash- 
ington office on March 23. 



During the absence of Commissioner 
Mead and Assistant Commissioner Dent 
at the Denver conference the Washington 
office was in charge of C. A. Bissell, chief 
of the engineering division. 



At their recent annual meeting the 
shareholders of the Orland Unit Water 
Users' Association elected the following 
directors for the ensuing year: George 
W. Sturm, C. A. Templeton, J. N. Cook, 
Joseph Simon, C. W. Kirk, Hein. de 
Vries, and W. E. Downey. At the regular 
March meeting of the board the following 
officials were chosen for the year: George 
W. Sturm, president; C. A. Templeton, 
vice president; Veryl Vanderford, secre- 
tary; First National Bank, treasurer. 



Mr. Bunkichi Okazaki, chief engineer 
of the Upper Liao River Conservancy, 
Newchang, China, was among the recent 
visitors to the Yuma project. 



George C. Kreutzer, Director of Recla- 
mation Economics, spent one day at the 
Orland project, at which time he visited 
Stony Gorge Dam. 



Fred 0. Arnold, a representative of the 
Associated Seed Growers (Inc.), with 
headquarters at Powell, Wyo., was a 
recent visitor on the Huntley project, 
Montana. He was looking the field 
over with the view to placing some con- 
tracts for growing seed beans. The price 
offered ranged from 6 to 7 cents per 
pound according to the variety. 



E. K. Burlew, administrative assistant 
to the Secretary of the Interior, and 
Judge Louis Warner, member of the Fed- 
eral Land Board of Santa Fe, N. Mex., 
visited Carlsbad and were shown over the 
project by Superintendent Foster. While 
in the vicinity they also visited the 
Carlsbad Caverns. 



J. L. Burkholder, chief engineer of the 
Middle Rio Grande conservancy district, 
and a committee of bankers interested in 
the sale of bonds for the Middle Rio 
Grande district were recent visitors on 
the Rio Grande project. 



Dams and Control 



"Dams and Control Works" is a 
164-page publication just issued by 
the Bureau of Reclamation, which con- 
tains a description of representative 
storage and diversion dams and high- 
pressure reservoir outlet works con- 
structed by the Bureau of Reclamation. 
There are numerous photographs and 
drawings and the appendix includes 
specifications for the Echo and Owyhee 
Dams, a table of reclamation dams, 
and a bibliography. It is planned to 
give this booklet wide distribution 
among engineers and others interested 
in reclamation. Copies may be ob- 
tained by addressing the Commissioner, 
Bureau of Reclamation, Washington, 
D. C. 



News has reached the bureau of the 
death, on March 14, of Mr. Dwight B. 
Heard, owner and publisher of the Ari- 
zona Republican. He has always been 
prominently identified in movements 
concerning Arizona's welfare, and up to 
the time of his death took a prominent 
part in endeavoring to reach some agree- 
ment on the Colorado River compact. 



Oscar E. Bradfute, former president of 
the American Farm Bureau Federation 
and a member of former Secretary 
Work's Committee of Special Advisers 
on Reclamation, died on March 26, 1929. 



L. M. Lawson, International Boundary 
Commissioner, with headquarters at El 
Paso, was in Washington the latter part of 
March on official business for the com- 
mission, which is under the State Depart- 
ment, and during his short stay in the 
city paid a call on his friends in the 
Bureau of Reclamation. 



Rio Grande Project Has 
Prosperous Year 

Pat Campbell, vice president of the 
Mesilla Valley Bank, Rio Grande project, 
as quoted in a recent issue of the Rio 
Grande Farmer, says that "This year 
(1928) has without question been the 
most prosperous year the whole of the 
Mesilla Valley has ever enjoyed. 

"Our farmers have especially prospered 
due to the fact that their yield has been 
away above the average, and they have 
received most satisfactory returns in 
dollars and cents for all their farm prod- 
ucts. This being true has enabled them 
to liquidate their bank notes, pay up their 
merchants, leaving them money on de- 
posit with the banks to use in financing 
for another year." 

As an indication of the trend of prices 
for the better farm lands on the project, 
a 134-acre farm in the Canutillo district 
brought $50,000, an average of $374 per 
acre, in a transfer executed recently. 



The Dairy Farmer's Goal 

The dairy farmer of the future will 
own a modern farm home. He will be 
supported by a high-producing herd of 
well-bred dairy cattle, which will be fed 
largely from luxuriant, home-grown 
crops, raised on well-tilled fertile soil. 
In short, the dairy farmer of the future 
will know how to live better and will 
live up to the best that he knows. That 
is the prophecy of J. C. McDowell, of 
the Bureau of Dairy Industry, United 
States Department of Agriculture. 

The dairy farmer of to-day is pro- 
gressive, but in many cases he is passively 
progressive. He knows what to do but 
he does not always do it. The farmer of 
the future will never allow one cow to eat 
up the profits another cow is making. He 
will allow only high-producing and profit- 
able dairv cows on his fertile farm. 



A MOVEMENT is on foot to institute 
^*- a general paint-up campaign on the 
Belle Fourche project under which all 
farm buildings are to be given a covering 
of sprayed paint. Negotiations are now 
under way to interest several owners of 
spray machines, and it is planned to pur- 
chase paint in large lots through com- 
munity efforts. 



U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 192 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Jos. M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 
E. K. Biirlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 
Ernest W. Sawyer, Special Executive Officer; 
Northcutt Ely, Executive Assistant 

Washington. D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 
Denver, Colorado. Wilda BuiUing 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Offutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; 
C. A. Lyman, Fiscal Inspector. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 




Newell S Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt... 
R. J. Newell 


J P Siebeneicher 


T P ffiphp.TiAnp.irhpr 


Wm J Rnrkp 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 




Boise, Idaho 


W. L. Vernon B. E. Stoutemver 


Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N. Mex L. E. Foster 


W. C. Berger 


W. C. Berger 


H. J. S. Devries 


Grand Valley 
Huntley ! 


Grand Junction, Colo J. C. Page 


W. J. Chiesman 


W. J. Chiesman 


J. R. Alexander 


Ballantine, Mont E. E. Lewis 








King Hill ' 


King Hill, Idaho ' F. I,. Kinkairt 










Klamath Falls, Oreg._ 
Savaee. Mont _. 


H. D. Newell 


N. G. Wheeler 


Joseph C. A very 


R. J. Coffey 


Lower Yellowstone 


H. A. Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann. 
E. E. Chabot 
G C Patterson 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E E Chabot 


E. E. Roddis... 


Milk River Malta. Mont 




do 






E. B Darlington 


Miss A. J. Larson 
Miss E. M. Simmonds- 
Virgil E Hubbell 


B E Stoutemyer 




Fallon, Nev 


A. W. Walker.-. . 




R. J. Coffey... 


North Platte fl 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H C Stetson 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Wm J Burke 




Okanogan, Wash 


Joe C. Iddings 




B. E. Stoutemyer--- 
R. J. Coffey 

B. E. Stoutemyer 


Orland 


Orland Calif 


R C E Weber 


C H Lillingston 


C. H. Lillingston 
Frank P. Greene 




Owyhee, Oreg 


F. A. Banks 


H. N. Bickel 




El Paso, Tex 


L. R. Fiock 


Henry H. Berryhill 


L. S. Kennicott 


H. J. S. Devries 




Riverton, Wyo 


H. D. Comstock 


R. B. Smith 


R. B. Smith 


Wm. J. Burke 


Salt River 


Phoenix, Ariz 


C. C. Cragin 










Powell, Wyo 


L. H. Mitchell 


W. F. Sha 




E. E. Roddis 


Strawberry Valley 10 ... 
Sun River n 




Lee R Taylor 








Fairfleld, Mont 


G Sanford 


H W Johnson 


U W Johnson 


E. E. Roddis 




{Irrigon, Oreg-- - 


A. C. Houehton 








Umatilla . .._ 












G H Bolt 


F D Helm 




Vale 


Vale, Oreg II. W. Bashore 


C. M. Voyen 


C. M. Voyen 


B. E. Stoutemyer 
do 




Yakima, Wash P. J. Preston 


R. K. Cunningham ___ 
H. R. Pasewalk 


J. C. Gawler 




Yuma, Ariz 


R. M. Priest 


E. M. Philebaum 


R. J. Coffey 







Large Construction Work 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo 


Coalville, Utah 


F. F. Smith " 


C. F. Williams 




J. R. Alexander 


Montrose, Colo. 


Dam. 
Kittitas 


Ellensburg, Wash 


Walker R. Young 


E. R. Mills 




B. E. Stoutemyer 


Portland, Oreg. 


Sun River Gibson 






F C. Lewis 


F C Lewis 


E E Roddis 


Billings, Mont. 


Dam. 















i Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1, 1926. 

1 Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1927. 

3 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 

4 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation 
District on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District 
on Dec. 2, 1916. 

5 Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1926. 

6 Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by 
Northport Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



7 Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 

1 Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. 

Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

' Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. 

" Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

1! Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, and East Division by Hermiston Irrigation District informally on 
July 1. 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926. 

" Construction engineer. 



Important Investigations in Progress 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 




Powell, Wyo 


I. B. Hosig 






Salt Lake City, Utah 


E O. Larson . 


State of Utah. 






A W. Walker 








P J. Preston 













HUGH A. BROWN, Editor. 



NEW 

RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



MAY, 1929 



NO. 5 




HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 



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COLORADO RIVER CON 
es the Colorado River Comp 
provisions. 


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INVESTIGATIONS 





Authorizes the appropri- 


ation of $250,000 for in- 
vestigations to formulate a 


utilization of Colorado River 
Section 15 




Authorizes investigations 
of the Parker-Gila Valley 
reclamation project. Sec. 11 




WATER RIGHTS 




All rights of the U. S. and 


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All rights of the U. S. and 
its grantees to waters of the 
Colorado River shall be sub- 
ject to the Colorado River 
Compact. faction 13(b) 




Nothing in the Act shall 
be construed as a denial or 
recognition of any rights in 
Mexico to the use of waters 
of the Colorado River 

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COLORADO RIVER DAM FUND 
Establishes the Colorado River Dam Fu 
carrying out the provisions of the Act. &c 


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REVENUES 
All revenues shall be paid 
into the Colorado River Darn 
Fund. Section 2(a) 


Balance available for 
repayment shall be deter- 
mined at close of each fiscal 


year and covered into the 
U. S. Treasury. Section 2(e) 


EXCESS REVENUES 
Revenues in excess of 
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of all money advanced, with 
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TRACTS 

>nger duration than 50 years, with 
ion under then existing laws and 

Kfflir.ii Xfin ami (h) 


ions for contracts to be resolved in con- 
F Federal Water Power Act, except that 
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NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cents a year 

RAY LYMAN WILBUR ELWOOD MEAD 

Secretary of the Interior Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



May, 1929 



No. 5 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Irrigation Projects 



CONTRACT has been entered into 
for the purchase of 20,000 barrels 
of cement to be used in the construction 
of the tunnels and diversion dam of Vale 
Main Canal, Vale project, Oregon. 



CONSTRUCTION plans at Owyhee 
dam site, Owyhee project, Oregon- 
Idaho, include excavation of the north- 
east abutment, work on the penstock 
tunnel, the placing of concrete linipg in 
the spillway and diversion tunnel, and 
preliminary work on the main cofferdams. 



AjL livestock on the Uncompahgre 
project are reported to be in ex- 
cellent condition, and good prices prevailed 
during the entire month for sheep and 
cattle shipped to market. 



A VIGOROUS campaign has been 
conducted by the Amalgamated 
Sugar Co. to induce farmers on the 
Minidoka project to plant a large acre- 
age of beets. As a result about 2,500 
acres have been contracted for on the 
pumping division and 1,800 acres on the 
gravity division. This is more than 
double the area cropped in 1928, which 
totaled only 1,733 acres. 



HAVEN LEIGH, of Burley, Idaho, 
on the Minidoka project, has 
again taken first place in the Minni- 
Cassia Cow Testing Association, having 
5 cows with an average butterfat produc- 
tion of 42.3 per cent, and 52.7 pounds per 
cow. The association comprises 21 herds 
and 266 cows. 



f I A HE local chapters of the Izaak 
J_ Walton League on the North Platte 
project have sponsored the construction 
by the State league of a nursing pond 
at the edge of the seepage channel from 
Minatare Dam and just below the dam. 
Eighty thousand Loch Laven trout will 
be shipped from the Benkleman hatcheries 
and placed in the nursing pond. 

46965-29 



THE Burley-Declo Bull Association, 
Minidoka project, has purchased a 
high-grade Holstein bull from a herd at 
Weiser. This bull is from a dam with a 
butterfat record of 948 pounds and which 
is State champion in class B butterfat and 
milk production. 



' I ^HE committee on the Orland project 
JL appointed early in the year for 
reporting on a cooperative organization of 
turkey growers met at Orland recently 
and submitted a plan formulated in co- 
operation with the office of the California 
State Market Director. The plan con- 
templates a Sacramento Valley wide 
organization with at least 50 per cent of 
the turkeys raised in the area included in 
the cooperative. No permanent organi- 
zation will be effected until this percent- 
age is signed up. 



NINETY-FOUR applications had 
been received up to March 27 for 
the 28 public-land farm units opened to 
entry on March 18 on the Tule Lake 
division of the Klamath project. 



DURING the 10-day period, March 18 
to March 27, 14 applications were 
received for the five public-land farm 
units on the North Platte project opened 
to entry on March 18. 



THE town of Lyman, Nebr., North 
Platte project, has voted bonds in 
the amount of $95,000 for the construc- 
tion of a new schoolhouse. 



ADDITIONAL building construction 
2~\. is planned on several Belle Fourche 
project farms, particularly on the State 
rural credit holdings. Painting of old 
buildings will be a feature of the season's 
activities. One paint sprayer is already 
on the job around Belle Fourche, and 
efforts are being made to secure another 
for the eastern part of the project. 



A LARGE acreage of chili is being 
planted on the Rio Grande project, 
1,800 acres having signed up under a re- 
cently formed association. The crop will 
be shipped to California markets. 



A HOLSTEIN cow owned by the 
./Y Price's dairy farm at Vinton, Rio 
Grande project, recently won the Texas 
State championship for cows of all breeds 
and ages through the production in 365 
days of 925.72 pounds of butterfat 
(1,157.2 pounds of butter) in 25,545.6 
pounds of milk. 

E RESTOCK operators on the Kla- 
math project have organized the 
Southern Oregon Livestock Association. 
The organization has a signed member- 
ship of 46 and represents 30,000 head of 
cattle. 



THE sugar company on the Belle 
Fourche project reports favorable 
progress in securing beet contracts for 
1929, and about 11,000 acres have already 
been signed up. It is expected that 
nearly 12,000 acres will be planted tribu- 
tary to the Belle Fourche factory, of 
which about two-thirds are on the 
project. 

MORE than 6,000 acres of sugar 
beets have been signed up on the 
Lower Yellowstone project, and it is ex- 
pected that this will be increased to 7,000 
acres by planting time. 



THE railroads and the Holly Sugar 
Co. have decided to continue the 
work of obtaining settlers for the Lower 
Yellowstone project, carried on last year 
by the bureau, and are sending a man into 
the Colorado territory for prospects. 



A PEAR cannery of the Oregon Pack- 
ing Co. has been assured for the 
Yakima Valley by the signing up of 
approximately 3,000 tons of pears atja 
minimum price of $27.50, with the aver- 
age price existing any one season to be 
paid in case market prices are higher. 

65 



66 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



May, 1929 



Idaho's Interest in the Columbia Basin Project 

By T. S. Kerr, Professor of Political Science. School of Business Administration, Unitersily of Idaho 

(Notes at end of article) 



TO understand Idaho's interest in the 
Columbia Basin project it is neces- 
sary first to know something of this rec- 
lamation plan in general and its effect 
upon Idaho. The project itself is a rec- 
lamation scheme of gigantic proportions 
providing for the irrigation of approxi- 
mately 1,883,000 acres, or 2,942 square 
miles ' of land west of Spokane, Wash. 
Numerous studies and surveys have been 
undertaken during the past seven years, 
the more important ones being made by 
the Federal Government, the State of 
Washington, and the Columbia Basin 
League. The reports submitted as a re- 
sult of these investigations all agree as to 
the feasibility of the project from an en- 
gineering standpoint. Already a half 
million dollars have been spent for this 
preliminary work. 

TWO PLANS CONSIDERED 

Two plans have been considered: One 
known as the pumping project; the other, 
the gravity project. The first of these 
plans provides for the pumping of water 
from the Columbia River under a very 
high lift from 432 to 474 feet at a point 
near the area to be irrigated. Should this 
plan be adopted there would be practi- 
cally no interstate problems for considera- 
tion. The gravity project seems to be the 
favored plan. It was recommended by 
the late Gen. George W. Goethals, of the 
United States Government, in his 1922 
report; by the United States Bureau of 
Reclamation; by the reviewing board ap- 
pointed by the late President Harding; 
and by the Columbia Basin League itself. 
The particular gravity plan favored by 
these investigations contemplates the di- 
version of water from the Pend Oreille 
River in north Idaho, with storage in 
Pend Oreille Lake and Priest Lake, both 
in north Idaho. 

Estimates have been made by the 
Columbia Basin League that the first unit 
of this project, or about one-fourth of the 
total acreage, will be ready for cultiva- 
tion after 8 years of construction work, 
and that 15 years will be required to com- 
plete the project. It is claimed that by 
the time the land is ready for use the de- 
mand for food products due to the normal 
increase of population will more than 
absorb the surplus production that results 
from reclaiming this vast area. The 
league asserts that when completed this 
reclaimed land will add $600,000,000 to 
the Nation's wealth, that it will support 



24,500 families, and will yield $200,000,000 
of farm products annually. 

It is not the purpose of this article to 
dwell on the merits or demerits of this 
reclamation project. There is no doubt 
that economic conditions, if not ripe at 
present, will be in the future for the rec- 
lamation of this land in Washington, but 
if the plan adopted involves diversion of 
water from Idaho streams it is unques- 
tionably the sovereign right and the duty 
of the State of Idaho to safeguard the 
interests of her people now living and of 
the generations to follow. At the eight- 
eenth session of the legislature a bill was 
passed denying to the reclamation officer 
the right to grant any permits involving 
the diversion of water from certain rivers 
in Idaho to or for use upon land outside 
of the State. This action followed receipt 
of a report from the allocation board 2 
that sufficient data was not available to 
make recommendations as to the damage 
to Idaho if the proposed gravity project 
should be carried out. Prompted, how- 
ever, by a desire for fair play, the Idaho 
legislature 3 appropriated $11,500 to be 
used for further investigation of this prob- 
lem that more data might be available for 
the succeeding legislature. 

HOW IS IDAHO AFFECTED? 

How will the gravity plan of diversion 
from the Pend Oreille River affect Idaho? 
This plan will necessitate a dam on the 
Pend Oreille River at Albany Falls, 
Idaho, 4 high enough to impound 2,260,500 
acre-feet of storage water in Pend Oreille 
Lake and from 432,000 to 600,000 acre- 
feet in Priest Lake. This would mean 
raising the elevation of Pend Oreille 
Lake to 2,075 feet and that of Priest Lake 
to about 2,460 feet, or an annual fluctua- 
tion somewhere between 18 and 25 feet 
in each case. Pend Oreille Lake is approx- 
imately 86,000 acres in area and Priest 
Lake 23,680 acres. Both lakes are sur- 
rounded by agricultural and timbered 
lands. The principal towns and cities 
affected are Sandpoint, Hope, Clark Fork, 
and Bayview on the shores of Lake Pend 
Oreille, and Priest River situated on the 
Pend Oreille River below the lake. These 
towns have a total population of approxi- 
mately 9,000. The shore line of the two 
lakes is about 130 miles in length, and the 
lands adjacent are owned by the Federal 
Government, the State of Idaho, and pri- 
vate individuals. It has been estimated 
that to raise the level of the lakes for a 



sufficient amount of storage water would 
interfere with the drainage and sewerage 
of the towns referred to, especially Sand- 
point, the largest of the group. New 
shore lines would be created, with the 
result that many summer homes and 
recreational centers already established 
would be destroyed. In addition, agri- 
cultural land variously estimated up to 
10,000 acres would be submerged, thereby 
reducing very materially the present agri- 
cultural area of Bonner County. With 
the loss of this amount of taxable prop- 
erty, the people of the county would 
necessarily have a higher tax rate. The 
individual property owners could be com- 
pensated by a monetary consideration, or, 
in the failure to reach an agreement, the 
power of eminent domain could be applied. 
But what about the permanent loss suf- 
fered by the county as a result of a spe- 
cific portion of its taxable property being 
forever submerged? 

The proposed dam to be constructed at 
Albany Falls, Idaho, must, of course, be 
financed by the Federal Government, and 
the title to the same would be vested in 
the United States Government for many 
years, if not permanently. A general rule 
of taxation is that Federal property can 
not be taxed without the consent of Con- 
gress. In recent years the State of Wyo- 
ming and two of its counties attempted 
to tax Federal irrigation projects. Their 
claim was upheld by the Federal District 
Court, but recently reversed by the Cir- 
cuit Court of Appeals. 5 The final out- 
come of this litigation may have a decided 
bearing on the tax problem involved in 
the Columbia Basin project. It is possi- 
ble that the Supreme Court may uphold 
the decision of the Circuit Court of 
Appeals, especially in view of a provision 
in the Wyoming constitution 6 which 
states: "The following article shall be 
irrevocable without the consent of the 
United States and the people of the State 
* * *. That no taxes shall be im- 
posed by this State on lands or property 
therein belonging to or which may here- 
after be purchased by the United States 
or reserved for its use." As no such tax 
restriction is found in the Idaho constitu- 
tion, there is a possibility that a taxing 
plan could be applied to the Columbia 
Basin project and sanctioned by the 
United States Government whereby Bon- 
ner County would have permanent com- 
pensation for its loss of taxable wealth. 
No attempt to date has been made to 
solve this problem. 



May, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



67 



FUTURE IRRIGATION NEEDS AFFECTED 

In addition to these injuries which 
would accrue immediately upon the opera- 
tion of the project, a potential loss exists 
in the future irrigation needs of the 
county. Preliminary studies show about 
200,000 acres in Bonner County which 
eventually can be tilled. Of this amount 
60 per cent is suitable for agriculture, 
under irrigation. It is also estimated 
that 70,000 acres across the line in 
Kootenai County will, in the not too dis- 
tant future, require irrigation to supple- 
ment the rainfall. Unless some provision 
is made to reserve water for this future 
agricultural need, the people of north 
Idaho will be unable to use the water 
flowing through their own land. 

Another possible injury to be reckoned 
with is the need for power. North Idaho, 
with its varied lumbering and mining 
possibilities, should carefully guard the 
development of its potential power. If 
the water of the Pend Oreille River is 
diverted at Albany Falls it can not be 
used for power, owing to the fact that the 
main diversion canal will head at this 
point. Some provision is made for power 
development in the gravity project plan 
permitting 7,000 second-feet to be released 
at Albany Falls for power. This is 
slightly in excess of the lowest normal 
quantity now flowing and is approxi- 
mately one-third of the power possibilities, 
at that place. The problem of providing 
for Idaho's future power needs is one of 
the most important in connection with 
the Columbia Basin project, as it is a 
matter that will affect Idaho for all time 
to come. 

ADJUDICATION OF INTERSTATE RIGHTS 

With these real and potential dangers 
facing Idaho upon the completion of the 
Columbia Basin project, it is apparent 
that a satisfactory adjudication of the 
interstate rights involved is a vital issue. 
These rights can be determined in either 
of two ways by a compact between the 
States of Washington and Idaho to which 
the Federal Congress may consent, or by a 
decision of the Supreme Court of the 
United States interpreting present or 
future laws. The compact method of 
procedure is certainly the one to be 
recommended if years of litigation are to 
be avoided. Its basis rests on a clause in 
the Federal Constitution 7 which pro- 
vides that "no State shall, without the 
consent to Congress, enter into any agree- 
ment or compact with another State." 
Acting under this authority, Congress has 
approved a number of interstate compacts 
from 1820 to 1925. 8 None of these com- 
pacts has ever been attacked in the 



Supreme Court, and no State could expect 
the court to set aside or modify an agree- 
ment to which it was a party. 

But what would be the effect of a 
Federal statute authorizing the diversion 
of water from the Pend Oreille River, 
Idaho, for the Columbia Basin project 
without the consent of the State of Idaho? 
That the national Congress would attempt 
to interfere in any way with the sovereign 
rights of Idaho over its rivers, other than 
navigable waters, is extremely doubtful. 
Congress has consistently by its legisla- 
tion recognized the validity of local cus- 
toms and laws governing the appropriation 
of water for irrigation, mining, power, and 
domestic uses. 

The reclamation act of June 17, 1902," 
in its eighth section provides "that 
nothing in this act shall be construed as 
affecting or intending to affect or in any 
way interfere with the laws of any State 
or Territory relating to the control, ap- 
propriation, use, or distribution of water 
used in irrigation, or any vested right 
acquired thereunder * * *. 

In section 11 of the act of December 19, 
1913, 10 granting the Hetch Hetchy Dam 
site to the city of San Francisco, Congress 
provided: "That this act is a grant upon 
certain express conditions specifically set 
forth herein, and nothing herein con- 
tained shall be construed as affecting or 
intending to affect or in any way to inter- 
fere with the laws of the State of Califor- 
nia relating to the control, appropriation, 
use, or distribution of water used in irriga- 
tion or for municipal or other uses or any 
vested right acquired thereunder, and the 
Secretary of the Interior in carrying out 
the provisions of this act shall proceed in 
conformity with the laws of said State." 

The Federal water-power act of 1920 u 
provides "that nothing herein contained 
shall be construed as affecting or intending 
to affect or in any way to interfere with 
the laws of the respective States relating 
to the control, appropriation, use, or dis- 
tribution of water used in irrigation, or 
for municipal or other uses or any vested 
right acquired therein." 12 

But the question still remains, Has the 
Federal Congress the right to enact 
legislation in this matter without the 
consent of all States affected? Would 
such legislation be within the power of 
the central Government? To answer 
this it is necessary to recall that our 
National Government, according to re- 
peated decisions of the Supreme Court, 
is one of the delegated and enumerated 
powers. This being the case, it natu- 
rally follows that all powers not surren- 
dered by the thirteen sovereign inde- 
pendent States to the National Gov- 
ernment were reserved to these States. 
What rights were surrendered to the 



Federal Government affecting the waters 
of the thirteen original States? In sec- 
tion 8, article 1 of the Constitution, the 
central Government is given power "to 
regulate commerce with foreign nations, 
and among the several States, and with 
the Indian tribes." Chief Justice John 
Marshall, in the famous case of Gibbon 
v. Ogden, 18 held that the word -"com- 
merce" as used in this section included 
navigation. Subject, then, to the con- 
trol of navigation by the National Gov- 
ernment, all other rights, privileges, and 
advantages in the waters of the separate 
States were reserved to the people therein 
to be used for their exclusive benefit and 
advantage. Accordingly, the people of 
the new States having been admitted into 
the Union on a footing of equality with 
the thirteen original States, have the 
same rights in their waters as were 
possessed by the people of the thirteen 
original States on the adoption of the 
Constitution of the United States. 

Many decisions of the Supreme Court 
might be cited to corroborate these prin- 
ciples and to establish the fact that the 
people of each separate State hay.e a 
property right in the water resources of 
their State. 

In the case of Martin v. Waddell " the 
court said: "For when the Revolution 
took place the people of each State be- 
came themselves sovereign; and in that 
character hold the absolute right to all 
their navigable waters and the soils under 
them, for their own common use, subject 
only to the rights since surrendered by the 
Constitution to the General Govern- 
ment." 

Again, in Pollard v. Hagan, ir the court 
said : " The shores of navigable waters and 
the soils under them were not granted by 
the Constitution to the United States but 
were reserved to the States respectively. 
The new States have the same rights, 
sovereignty, and jurisdiction over this 
subject as the original States." 

In Scott v. Lattig," Justice Van De- 
vanter, in speaking of the State's control 
over its water, said: "Each new State 
upon its admission to the Union becomes 
endowed with the same rights and powers 
in their regard as the older ones." 

In the case of Kansas v. Colorado," the 
court said: "The Government of the 
United States is one of enumerated 
powers; that it has no inherent powers of 
sovereignty * * * while Congress has 
general legislative jurisdiction over the 
Territories and may control the flow of 
waters in their streams, it has no power to 
control a like flow within the limits of a 
State except to preserve or improve the 
navigability of the stream; that the full 
control over those waters is, subject to the 
exceptions named, vested in the State." 



68 



NEW RECLAMATION EKA 



May, 1929 



In United States v. Cross, 18 decided 
March 12, 1917, Justice Pitney stales: 
"The States have authority to establish 
for themselves such rules of property as 
they may deem expedient with respect to 
the streams of water within their borders, 
both navigable and nonnavigable, and the 
ownership of the lands forming the beds 
and banks, subject, however, in the case 
of navigable streams, to the paramount 
authority of Congress to control the 
navigation, so far as may be necessary for 
the regulation of commerce among the 
States and with foreign nations." 18 

The right of a State to change the com- 
mon-law rule of riparian rights and per- 
mit appropriation of flowing water for 
such purposes as it deems wise, subject to 
the right of the National Government 
over navigation, has been aptly stated by 
Justice Brewer in the case of United 
States t>. Rio Grande Dam and Irrigation 
Co. : 20 " Notwithstanding the unquestioned 
rule of the common law in reference to the 
right of a lower riparian proprietor to in- 
sist upon the continuous flow of the 
stream as it was, and although there has 
been in all the Western States an adoption 
or recognition of the common law, it was 
early developed in their history that the 
mining industry in" certain States, the 
reclamation of arid lands in others, com- 
pelled a departure from the common law 
rule and justified an appropriation of 
flowing waters both for mining purposes 
and for the reclamation of arid lands, and 
there has come to be recognized in those 
States, by custom and by State legisla- 
tion, a different rule a rule which per- 
mits, und_er certain circumstances, the 
appropriation of the waters of a flowing 
stream for other than domestic pur- 
poses." 

The problem of interstate rights may be 
approached from another angle. The 
Idaho constitution definitely states that 
the appropriation of all water of the State 



shall be a public use and under State 
control. 21 This constitution was adopted 
August 5, 1889, and confirmed by act of 
Congress July 3, 1890. The Federal 
Government in accepting the constitution 
undoubtedly sanctioned this provision as 
well as the other provisions of the Idaho 
constitution. Under what right, then, 
can the National Government repudiate 
its act of 1890? 

Acting under the authority of the con- 
stitution of the State of Idaho with respect 
to control of its waters, the legislature at 
its last session declared certain waters, 
including Pend Oreille Lake and Priest 
Lake, to be in trust for the people of the 
State in their present condition. The 
exact provision follows: 22 

The governor is hereby authorized and 
directed to appropriate in trust for the 
people of the State of Idaho all the unap- 
propriated water of Priest, Pend Oreille, 
and Coeur d'Alene Lakes or so much 
thereof as may be necessary to preserve 
said lakes in their present condition. The 
preservation, of said water in said lakes 
for scenic beauty, health, recreation, 
transportation, and commercial purposes 
necessary and desirable for all the in- 
habitants of the State is hereby declared 
to be a beneficial use of such water. 
* * * Each succeeding governor in 
office shall be deemed to be a holder of 
such permit in trust for the people of the 
State. The lands belonging to the State 
of Idaho between high and low water 
mark at said lakes, as well as all other 
lands of the State adjacent to said lakes, 
until the same are disposed of by the 
State board of land commissioners, are 
hereby declared to be devoted to a public 
use in connection with the preservation of 
said lakes in their present condition as a 
health resort and recreation place for the 
inhabitants of the State, and said public 
use is hereby declared to be a more neces- 
sary use than the use of said lands as a 
storage reservoir for irrigation or power 
purposes. 

The Columbia Basin project, then, if 
carried to a successful conclusion, in- 
volves the settlement of a complicated set 




Sheep feeding on Newlands project, Nevada 



of interstate rights. The compensation 
of private-property owners for damages 
sull'ered, compensation to Bonner County 
for the permanent loss of a part of its 
taxable property, and provision for the 
future power needs of north Idaho these 
are the outstanding problems to be 
solved. While the State of Idaho has a 
sympathetic attitude toward reclamation 
in general, it is not unmindful of its 
sovereign powers nor is it negligent of its 
duty in making adequate provision for its 
own protection. 

NOTES 

1. Equal approximately to the combined area of 
Rhode Islanci and Delaware. 

2. The allocation board consisted of members ap- 
pointed by the Governors of Washington, Idaho, Mon- 
tana, and Oregon, and representatives from the Depart- 
ment of Interior and the Department of War. This 
board made a report in January, 1925. 

3. Chapter 175, Session Laws of Idaho, 1925. 

4. Albany Falls, Idaho, is one-half mile from the 
Washington-Idaho line. 

5. Twin Falls Canal Co. v. Wyoming Board of 
Equalization; Twin Falls Canal Co. p. Teton County 
and the taxing officers thereof; Twin Falls North Side 
Canal Co. v. State Board of Equalization of Wyoming; 
Twin Falls North Side Canal Co. n. Teton and Lincoln 
Counties and the taxing officers thereof. 

6. Section 3. Ordinances. 

7. Art. 1, sec. 10, and p. 2. 

8. These compacts include the following: Boundary 
conventions: Kentucky and Tennessee, May 12, 1820 
Stat. L., vol. 3, p. 609; New York and New Jersey, 
June 28, 1834 Stat. L., vol. 4, pp. 708 fl.; Virginia and 
Maryland, Mar. 3, 1879 Stat. L., vol. 20, pp. 481 ft.; 
New York and Vermont, Apr. 7, 1880 Stat L., vol. 21, 
p. 72; New York and Connecticut, Feb. 26, 1881 Stat. 
L., vol. 21, pp. 351 ff.; Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
Oct. 12, 1888 Stat. L., vol. 25, p. 553; New York and 
Pennsylvania, Aug. 19, 1890 Stat. L., vol. 26, pp. 329(1; 
Protection of fish in boundary waters: Oregon and 
Washington, Apr. 8, 1918 Stat. L., vol. 40 p. 515. Ju- 
risdiction over boundary waters for specific purposes: 
Xorth Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Iowa, and Nebraska, Mar. 4, 1921 Stat. L., vol. 41, pp. 
1447 IT. Construction and operation of tunnels: New 
York and New Jersey, July 11, 1919 Stat. L., vol. 41, 
p. 158. Development of the port of New York: New 
York and New Jersey, Aug. 23, 1921 Stat. L., vol. 42, 
pp. 17 and ff.; New York and New Jersey, July 1, 1922 
Stat. L., vol. 42, pp. 822 ff. Erection and maintenance 
and operation of waterworks: Kansas and Missouri, 
Sept. 22, 1922 Stat. L., vol. 42, p. 1058 ff. Appor ion- 
ment of the waters of an interstate stream: Colorado 
and New Mexico, the La Plata River compact, Jan. 29, 
1925 Stilt. L., vol. 43, p. 798 ff. 

9. 32 Stat. 388. 

10. 38 Stat. 242. 

11. 41 Stat. 1003, sec. 27. 

12. Other congressional acts have conveyed this same 
attitude on the part of Congress (sec. 9 of act of July 26, 
186614 Stat. 266 now sec. 2399, Rev. Stats.; desert- 
land act of Mar. 3, 188719 Stats. 377; sec. 18 of the act 
of Mar. 3, 189126 Stat. 1085). 

13. 9 Wheat. 1. 

14. 41 U. S. 410. 

15. 3 How. 229. 

16. 227 U. 8. 229, 242. 

17. 206 U. S. 46. 

18. 243 U. S. 316. 

19. Other decisions supporting this doctrine: Barney 
v. Keokuk, 94 U. S. 324-338; Packer r. Bird, 137 U. 8. 
661-671; Shively r. Bowlby, 152 U. S. 1, 40, 58; St. An- 
thony Falls Water Power Co. v. Water Commissioner, 
168 U. S. 349, 358; Hardin f. Jordan, 140 U. S. 371, 382. 

20. 174 U. S. 690, 702-706. 

21. Idaho constitution Art. XV, sec. 1; also State 
supreme court decision, 16 Idaho, 707. 

22. This bill became effective Jan. 24, 1927. 



May, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



And a Reply by the Columbia Basin Chairman 

By Roy R. Gill, Chairman Executive Committee, Columbia Basin Irrigation League 



PROPONENTS of the Columbia Basin 
reclamation project most cordially 
welcome the study and discussion of 
"Idf-.ho's interest in the Columbia Basin 
Project," by Professor Kerr, of the Uni- 
versity of Idaho. He has approached the 
subject in a temperate and altogether 
admirable manner. Professor Kerr is 
apparently seeking to ascertain and 
understand just how the building of this 
great irrigation project within the drain- 
age of the Columbia River and its tribu- 
taries will affect, adversely as well as 
beneficially, the interest of the two States 
(Montana and Idaho) which lie "up the 
river" from the land to be watered. 

In presenting a reply to the discussion 
by the Idaho educator we intend to match 
the even-tempered attitude displayed by 
Professor Kerr. It is only by developing 
this matter in a spirit of fair dealing be- 
tween friends and neighbors that an 
understanding can be reached. 

In doing so we shall use data which 
evidently were not available to Professor 
Kerr, evidenced, for instance, by his using 
a long since abandoned plan for storage 
of Columbia Basin irrigation water in 
Priest Lake, northern Idaho. Latest 
engineering plans for the Columbia Basin 
project contemplate asking Idaho for 
storage rights in Pend Oreille Lake alone. 

COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING ESSENTIAL 

That a complete understanding may be 
had, we have attempted to discuss the 
matter, which in reality means an allo- 
cation compact between the northwest 
States, under various district divisions, as 
follows: 

1. Lake Pend Oreille is the only place 
in Idaho now being considered by engi- 
neers as a storage reservoir x for the benefit 
of the Columbia Basin irrigation project 
if the gravity system for the irrigation of 
the land shall be adopted. We believe 
the gravity system to be the most prac- 
tical. 

The Columbia River Board of Control, 
created by Federal and State authority, 
has definitely abandoned the use of both 
Priest Lake and Lake Coeur d'Alene as 
reservoirs for the Columbia Basin project. 
Furthermore, the report by Warren G. 
Swendsen, then commissioner of reclama- 
tion for the State of Idaho (January 12, 
1927) definitely limited the studies of 
reservoir-storage possibilities in Idaho for 
the benefit of Columbia Basin to Lake 
Pend Oreille. Since that report was made 



to the Idaho Legislature a mass of infor- 
mation has been accumulated regarding 
damages and benefits to Idaho from using 
such storage (Lake Pend Oreille) and has 
been supplied to Mr. G. N. Carter the 
successor to Mr. Swendsen. 

Therefore, any further reference to the 
use of any storage other than Pend Oreille 
may be omitted. 

2. In negotiations and discussions be- 
tween members of the Columbia River 
Board of Control, looking to the arrange- 
ments of an agreement for dividing the 
waters of the Columbia River watershed 
between the interested States, the State 
of Washington has relinquished all claims 
or intent to the storage of water in Lake 
Pend Oreille above elevation 2,070 over 
the sea. Storage up to elevation 2,070 
will provide all the water that the farmers 
on the project will ever require. 

Elevation 2,070 would place the lake 
slightly lower than the average high-water 
mark in recent years. 

A survey of the lands bordering the 
Clarks Fork River, the lake, and Pend 
Oreille River between Albany Falls and 
the outlet of the lake, as made by the War 
Department in 1927, together with a com- 
parison with the tax records of Bonners 
County, Idaho, indicate that approxi- 
mately 14,000 acres of taxable land would 
be flooded if the lake were held at eleva- 
tion 2,070. Of the 14,000 acres only 3,700 



are farmed or subject to cultivation. None 
of the lands that would be flooded carry im- 
provements of any character, save fencing. 

The War Department survey above re- 
ferred to also demonstrates that in using 
elevation 2070 not a single assessed tract 
of Bonner County land would be entirely 
flooded; by elevating the lake to 2070 it will 
flood small fractions of land only in each 
assessed farm tract, the main body of land 
in each case remaining intact and on the 
tax rolls of the county. Thus the county 
will not witness an exodus of its farm 
citizens as soon as they receive settlement 
for those fractions of land. It is more 
likely to see them use the money they 
will receive for their flooded acres to im- 
prove their remaining lands, and lost tax 
values will be thereby somewhat equal- 
ized. The fractions that will be flooded 
average about 27 acres per tract of assess- 
able land. They run along mostly from 
2 to 4 or 5 acres out of each tract. 

Data and maps showing the exact acre- 
age in each tract that will be flooded at 
elevation 2070 have been supplied to the 
Idaho Commissioner of Reclamation. 

With the exception of the cellars under 
a few homes in the southwest part of the 
city of Sandpoint, that city is built en- 
tirely above elevation 2070. Thus it has 
been ascertained by the engineers that 
the use of the lake up to 2070 does not 
menace the sewage system of Sandpoint. 




Jersey dairy herd in pasture, Minidoka project, Idabo 



70 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



May, 1929 



However, it has been proposed that tin- 
Columbia Basin reclamation project shall 
finance and construct a sea wall along the 
lake front that will entirely and com- 
pletely protect property in that city from 
damages, if any result from elevating the 
lake to 2070. The wall will be several 
feet higher than that elevation to afford 
ample protection. 

The Hungry Horse Reservoir, in the 
State of Montana, which plan has been 
adopted by the proponents of the project, 
will be filled from flood waters. Our en- 
gineers believe this reservoir will lower 
the annual flood level at Sandpoint from 
1 to 2 feet each year. 

It is well understood that the island 
and narrow bottle neck in the river at 
Albany Falls comprise the chief cause of 
the floods at Sandpoint. Columbia Basin 
proposes to widen the outlet, remove the 
island as an obstruction, and put in a 
type of dam that can be opened up to 
allow the floods unobstructed escape 
down the river. 

3. Very few summer cottages are to be 
found along the shore line of Pend Oreille. 
Such as are there are well above level 2070 
and would be benefited rather than in- 
jured by maintenance of a steady lake level. 

Such beaches as exist are now estab- 
lished at high-water level, which runs 
from 2070 to 2071. The league would be 
entirely willing to pump sand for the 
building of a finer and better beach at 
Sandpoint or at any other locality which 
might feel injured in this respect. 

4. The use of Pend Oreille for Columbia 
Basin storage does not conflict in the 
slightest degree with the development 
and utilization of any power sites in the 
State of Idaho. On the contrary, it will 
increase potential power in that State. 

Above Albany Falls, in Idaho, are only 
two possible power developments one 
on the Priest River and the other at 
Cabinet Rapids on the Clarks Fork. 
Neither of these sites would be flooded 
if Lake Pend Oreille is elevated to level 
2070. It is conceivable that the con- 
struction of Columbia Basin would create 
a market justifying their development at 
a much earlier date than otherwise, with 
consequent benefits to Idaho. 

At Albany Falls only a small power 
development can ever be had. If it is 
occupied by the Columbia Basin project 
dam, proposed to be approximately 35 
feet in height, it would permit the genera- 
tion of only 15,000 horsepower. But 
that amount of power would be important 
to Idaho and Bonner County, because 
Washington is agreeable that it should be 
ceded to them as compensation for the 
taxable property destroyed. No doubt 
that amount of cheap power would be 
helpful in expanding Sandpoint's in- 
dustrial center and pay rolls. 



Project Water Supply 

During the early part of March 
stream flow was generally low, owing to 
low temperatures. Later in the month 
precipitation at the lower altitudes 
swelled the streams. Snow pack is at 
or above normal in the Rocky Moun- 
tain ranges and materially below 
normal in the Pacific coast ranges. 
Snow cover is more abundant than usual 
in the lower altitudes of each drainage 
area, pointing to early and, in some 
cases, heavy floods. 

Late-season flow will be deficient, 
except on the Rio Grande, with such 
deficiency likely to be pronounced in 
Pacific coast streams. The more 
western reservoirs which are depend- 
ent on annual flows are unlikely to 
fill, but reservoirs with large hold-over 
capacity will generally be well filled on 
account of good hold over from 1928. 

Minor irrigation shortages are an- 
ticipated on the Yakima and Umatilla 
projects. More severe shortages may 
occur on the Okanogan, Orland, and 
Boise projects, and on the Truckee 
lands of the Newlands project. A 
heavy shortage has been averted on the 
Salt River project by the extensive 
well-construction program carried out 
in recent years. 

For reservoirs with concurrent data 
the storage on hand on March 31, 1929, 
was 5,105,000 acre-feet, as compared 
with 6,285,000 acre-feet for the same 
date in 1988. 



TAX REVENUES 

5. The total annual revenue to Bonner 
County, Idaho, from taxation is approxi- 
mately $600,000; the taxes assessed 
against all the privately-owned lands 
bordering the lake amount to approxi- 
mately $25,000; the total amount of taxes 
assessed against the fractions of land 
which would be covered by water at 
elevation 2070 is approximately $8,000. 
These figures include taxes for all pur- 
poses. We have not attempted to segre- 
gate them to show just how many dollars 
would be lost to the State, county, or 
school districts. The amounts would be 
relatively small as compared with the 
total revenue of the county. 

With only small fractions of each tax- 
able area around the lake flooded, how- 
ever, and with the owners given substan- 
tial remuneration, money they would un- 
doubtedly expend in equipping their farms 
with livestock or improvements of some 
character, there is little likelihood of the 
county, school district, or State suffering 



any loss in taxation. Certainly there would 
not be a material increase in the tax rate. 

6. If, as Professor Kerr alleges, there 
are 200,000 acres in Bonner County which 
eventually can be tilled, and of that 
amount 60 per cent, or 120,000 acres, can 
be irrigated, we hope he will agree that 
the situation as regards the reclamation of 
those lands can not be injured by making 
a storage reservoir of Lake Pend Oreille. 

If any of those lands are to be irrigated 
by pumping, a dam must be built. The 
Columbia Basin Dam at Albany Falls 
would be in place to create and maintain 
at a steady level the water basin to supply 
such pumps. 

AMPLE WATER FOR ALL 

We want to impress Professor Kerr and 
all other citizens of Idaho with the fact 
that proponents of Columbia Basin are 
not trying to sneak in under the tent and 
take away from Idaho any gallon of water 
of which she can make a beneficial use. 

There is water enough in the Pend 
Oreille and its branches to answer any 
demand that Montana, Idaho, or Wash- 
ington will ever make on it. 

We of Washington are urging a compact 
to be agreed upon between the States 
that will forever reserve to Idaho all the 
water she can use and a large reserve 
amount on top of that. 

We are willing to concede to Idaho that 
she can use our reservoir at Lake Pend 
Oreille to store water to be pumped or 
sent by gravity to any lands that can be 
reclaimed by its use. We will build and 
maintain the reservoir without any charge 
to Idaho for such privileges. 

7. Professor Kerr's discussion of the 
legal question, as to whether Congress has 
the power to interfere in any way with the 
sovereign rights of the State of Idaho over 
its rivers, is interesting but entirely be- 
side the point. No one that we know of 
is claiming that Congress can override the 
rights of the State of Idaho in that re- 
gard. Professor Kerr's discussion of the 
matter naturally leads to the opinion that 
such an attempt is being made. No such 
attempt has been or will be made by Col- 
umbia Basin proponents. 

We are quite sure that such friendly 
discussions as these serve to disseminate 
the facts among the people, and as they 
are better understood it is sure to follow 
that the formulation of an allocation com- 
pact among the northwest States will ap- 
pear necessary, and the sooner it is com- 
pleted the better for all concerned. 

Washington is willing. 

All Washington asks of Idaho is the 
same courteous and neighborly treatment 
that Wyoming gave to Idaho a few years 
ago storage privileges that have en- 
abled a large part of the irrigated land of 
southern Idaho to become productive. 



May, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION EUA 



71 



A Wording Example of Financing Settlers on Irrigation Projects 



THE question of furnishing settlers on 
Federal reclamation projects with 
money at a lower rate and on more 
liberal terms of payment than commercial 
banks are able or willing to give has been 
a matter of concern for several years to 
the management of the Reclamation 
Bureau. 

When appropriations were made for 
the construction of the Owyhee and Vale 
irrigation projects in eastern Oregon and 
western Idaho the business interests of 
the towns on and around these projects 
pledged themselves to capitalize an agri- 
cultural corporation to loan intermediate 
credit bank money to the farmers. In 
order that this institution might be in 
working condition, and to test the actual 
value of such a concern to an irrigated 
country, we did not wait until the projects 
were ready to deliver gravity water, but 
organized the corporation early in the 
spring of 1927. The business office is 
handled in connection with the Farmers' 
Cooperative Creamery Co. at Payette, 
Idaho. 

The connection of the loaning corpora- 
tion, known as the Intermountain Agri- 
cultural Credit Corporation, with the 
creamery has had much to do with the 
success of the corporation, although the 
loan company is a separate organization 
from the creamery, which stands only as 
one of the subscribers to its capital stock. 
The creamery inspectors also watch loans 
and help sellers and buyers of dairy cattle. 
The Payette creamery does an immense 
business with a branch butter manufac- 
turing plant at Weiser, Idaho, and an ice- 



By E, C. Van Petten. Ontario. Oreg. 

cream factory at Ontario, Oreg., which 
made over 30,000 gallons of ice cream in 
1928. In 1928 the creamery manufac- 
tured 4,000,000 pounds of butter and 
800,000 pounds of condensed buttermilk. 
It has developed a large poultry and egg 
business and operates 21 trucks on milk 
routes. Its assets are $325,000, with no 
indebtedness, and it is a part owner of the 
Challenge Butter Association of Los 
Angeles, a cooperative selling concern. 
In 1928 the creamery paid its members 
89 cents of the consumer's dollar. Such a 
concern is a strong background for our 
loaning corporation. 

The credit corporation made its first 
loans in May, 1927. Loans are made on 
40 to 60 per cent of the appraised value of 
the stock, and 3 to 5 per cent of the loan 
must be liquidated each month out of 
cream checks for cream delivered to the 
Payette creamery. In 20 months the 
corporation made 472 loans. 

The annual report for the business year 
of 1928 showed that 388 loans were made 
during the year, totaling $181,407.61. A 
most surprising result was that $86,524.04 
in loans had been repaid in 1928. On 
January 31, 1929, the company had 
$134,181.56 outstanding in loans. During 
1928 the inspectors and the corporation 
had aided 129 dairymen to select and pur- 
chase 827 dairy cows. The corporation 
so far has not foreclosed a mortgage or 
taken a cow away from a borrower. 

The beneficial effects of this corporation 
have far surpassed our expectations. In 
former years the coast cities and Califor- 
nia were heavy buyers of dairy stock in 



this section. Now, when a desirable dairy 
cow is for sale, a buyer at home is found 
and financed, if necessary, by the corpo- 
ration. 

By our 3 to 5 per cent plan of monthly 
repayments out of the cream checks we 
have set a considerable number of small 
farmers on their feet financially and are 
making substantial citizens out of them. 
This money can be loaned for dairy cattle 
and all other livestock and to finance 
buildings for housing them. We expect 
to enlarge the loaning capital as the 
country grows. At this time it is meeting 
the needs of 45,000 acres of electric pump- 
ing lands under the Owyhee project, as 
well as the Warm Springs lands adjacent 
to the Vale project. 

After a year and a half of actual expe- 
rience we are very much impressed with 
the necessity and success of our plan of 
loaning intermediate credit bank money 
through a corporation organized for that 
purpose. Any community which is a 
good dairy country can do it successfully. 
At first it is necessary to obtain initial 
capital from the business interests. Later 
the corporation will run under its own 
power. In the early stages local banks 
may not be friendly, but later they will 
find the plan a decided help to them by 
building up prosperous farmers out of 
poor risks. The work of a creamery in 
connection with the loaning company is 
very valuable but not an absolute 
necessity. 

It is a grand work to take a man with 
a family who is making a bare living and 
set his feet along a prosperous path. 




Hay stack 065 feet long, containing 660 tons, grown on 91 acres, by C. P. Overstreet, near Nyssa, Oreg., Owyhee project 



72 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



May, 1929 



y j Reclamation Project Women and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Club Activities of Project Women 



WITH very few exceptions, club 
work is in evidence on all of our 
projects. 

Recently an inquiry was made as to the 
extent of club work on Federal reclama- 
tion projects and this prompted the send- 
ing out of a general inquiry to all projects. 

In some cases photographs of club 
houses were proudly submitted, in others 
there was an expressed determination to 
have their own club houses in the very 
near future, but in back of it all is the 
same spirit of service, civic pride, and the 
urge to help make their communities more 
attractive and a better place to live in. 

This banding of women in such a praise- 
worthy cause earns the commendation of 
all those connected with the administra- 
tion of project affairs as to the important 
part these activities play in^the everyday 
life of project women. 

BELLE FOURCHE PROJECT, SOUTH 
DAKOTA 

Club work among the women of the 
Belle Fourche project is carried on at the 
present time in five organizations, the 
locations of the clubs being Newell, Vale, 
Empire, South Hilen, and Horse Creek. 
Their programs for this year include a 
series of seven demonstrations sponsored 
by the South Dakota Home Extension 
Department, and, in addition, a Butte 
County program of kitchen-improvement 
work and testing circles of kitchen equip- 
ment. 

The State program includes Christmas 
gift demonstrations, food needs for health, 
health values of foods, growth foods for 
health, regulating and coordinating health 
factors, food and waste carriers for health, 
and the beautification of home grounds. 

The Butte County kitchen-improve- 
ment work will be open to all women in 
the county, regardless of whether they are 
club members or not, and will be in the 
nature of a contest. The kitchens are to 
be scored on their original arrangement, 
and then again, at the close, to determine 
who has made the greatest improvement 
in new arrangement. 

In the testing circle each club win be 
furnished with a piece of equipment, test 
it out, and report on its findings. The 
consolidated reports from all clubs will 
then be available for each club in the 
county covering all the equipment tested. 

With the exception of the Horse Creek 
Club, the club meetings on the Belle 



Fourche project are held in the various 
homes of the club members. In the 
Horse Creek section two rooms of their 
schoolhouse are so arranged so that they 
can be thrown into one large room, where 
demonstrations are given and the club's 
programs carried out. 

BOISE PROJECT, IDAHO-OREGON 

In collecting data on club activities on 
this project it is well to note that the 
clubs in the city of Boise and in Parma 
can hardly be said to be purely project 
activities, but the project makes up so 
great a part of the Boise Valley and all 
the interests and activities in the valley 
are so tied up with and dependent on the 
project that the Boise project and the 
Boise Valley are considered as being 
synonymous. 

It boasts six fine buildings dedicated to 
the cause. Not only their existence but 
the type of buildings reflect a prosperous 
community. 

The Columbian Club in Boise is a 
woman's organization with a wide sphere 
of influence and a history covering many 
years. 

The Boise Country Club is purely a 
sports club, as the name implies. 

The Kuna community clubhouse, while 
largely supported by the women of Kuna, 
is used for all manner of community 
purposes. 

The same description will apply to the 
Marble Front and Parma clubhouses. 

In the Big Bend district, which is in 
Oregon, a small park termed the "Big 
Bend Park" is maintained with ball 

Boo^s for Farmers on 

The Rio Grande Project 

The Dona Ana County Farm Bureau, 
New Mexico, is maintaining a circulating 
library for the benefit of the farmers of its 
farm bureau locals. These books are 
mainly on the subject of agricultural 
methods and the latest scientific discov- 
eries that can be used by the farmer to 
improve his crop returns. This is be- 
lieved to be the only circulating library 
in the United States run by a farm bureau, 
and the people of the Elephant Butte 
irrigation district, Rio Grande project, 
New Mexico-Texas, where this organiza- 
tion is located, feel proud of the progres- 
sive spirit of their locality. 



grounds, shade and lawn for picnic pur- 
poses, and the clubhouse shown in the 
picture for all manner of community 
meetings. This park and clubhouse are ' 
the center of the social life of the Big Bend 
district, which is somewhat remote from 
towns of any size and fill a real need. 

HUNTLEY PROJECT, MONTANA 

This project has provided for com- 
munity gatherings. The Ballantine hall 
was constructed by the people in Ballan- 
tine and community in 1922 at a cost of 
$3,500 for materials. The labor was 
practically all donated. The main part 
of this building is 52 by 60 feet, with a 
stage 16 by 40 feet added on the east end. 

The Osborn hall was constructed last 
summer by the Project Pioneer Picnic 
Association at a cost of $4,000, and is 
intended for project gatherings of all 
kinds. It is a timber structure, substan- 
tially built. Dimensions 42 by 80 feet. 

NORTH PLATTE PROJECT, NEBRASKA- 
WYOMING 

This project has no club buildings. 
A number of women's clubs have been 
organized and club meetings are held in 
schoolhouses or at the different farm 
homes. 

There are three reserves on the project 
set aside for public playgrounds and com- 
munity center purposes. 

UMATILLA PROJECT, OREGON 

Two live clubs exist in the west exten- 
sion irrigation district of this project, the 
Women's Grange and Community Clubs. 
They have no club buildings. The mem- 
bers meet once a month at members' 
homes. They work, in cooperation, to 
send boys and girls to the State fair in 
club work, and, generally, for the good of 
the community in many forward move- 
ments. Money for their activities is 
raised through the sale of needlework and 
banquets or lunches put on by the clubs. 



CONSIDERABLE activity is apparent 
on the Grand Valley project in the 
desire for information on beautifying 
premises. The Mesa County Improve- 
ment Association has been formed as a 
clearing house for literature and for the 
distribution of trees and plants. Illus- 
trated lectures on the subject are also 
being given in many rural districts. 



May, 1920 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



73 







1. Community Hall, Ballantine, Huntlcy project, Montana 2. Horse Creek School, Belle Fourche project, South Dakota. 3. Community Club, Osborn, 
Huntley project. 4. Columbian Club, Boise, Boise project. 5. Boiso Country Club, Boise project. 6. Com-nunity Club, Kuna, Boise project. 7. Good 
Cheer Club in Marble Front District, near Caldwoll, Hoise project. 8. Community Club House, Parma, Boise project. 9. Club House, Big Bend Com- 
munity Park, Boise project. 



74 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



May. 1S29 



Rio Grande Compact With Respect to the Use of the Waters of the 

River Above Fort Quitman, Tex. 



THE State of Colorado, the State of 
New Mexico, and the State of 
Texas, desiring to remove all causes of 
present and future controversy among 
these States and between citizens of one 
of these States and citizens of another 
State with respect to the use of the waters 
of the Rio Grande above Fort Quitman, 
Tex., and being moved by considerations 
of interstate comity, have resolved to 
conclude a compact for the attainment of 
these purposes, and to that end, through 
their respective governors, hove named 
.as their respective commissioners: 

For the State of Colorado, Delph E. 
Carpenter; 

For the State of New Mexico, Francis 
C. Wilson; 

For the State of Texas, T. H. McGregor; 
who, after negotiations participated in 
by William J. Donovan, appointed by the 
President as the representative of the 
United States of America, have agreed 
upon the following articles, to wit: 

ARTICLE I 

(a) The State of Colorado, the State of 
New Mexico, the State of Texas, and the 
United States of America, are hereinafter 
designated "Colorado," "New Mexico," 
"Texas," and the "United States," 
respectively. 

(6) The term "Rio Grande Basin" 
means all of the territory drained by the 
Rio Grande and its tributaries in Colorado, 
New Mexico, and Texas, above Fort 
Quitman, Tex. 

(c) The term "tributary" means any 
watercourse the waters of which naturally 
flow into the channel of the Rio Grande. 

(d) The "closed basin" means that 
part of the San Luis Valley in Colorado 
where the streams and waters naturally 
flow and drain into the San Luis lakes and 
adjacent territory and the waters of which 
are not tributary to the Rio Grande. 

(e) Domestic use of water has the 
significance which attaches to the word 
"domestic" in that sense at common law. 
Municipal use means the use of water by 
or through waterworks serving the public. 
Agricultural use means the use of. water 
for the irrigation of land. 

(/) The term "power" as applied to the 
use of water means all uses of water, 
direct or indirect, for the generation of 
energy. 

(g) Spill or waste of water at a reservoir 
means the flowage of water over the spill- 
way or the release of water through outlet 
structures other than for domestic, 
municipal, or agricultural uses, and losses, 
incident thereto. 



The provisions hereof binding each sig- 
natory State shall include and bind its 
citizens, agents, and corporations, and all 
others engaged in, or interested in, the 
diversion, storage, or use of the water of 
the Rio Grande in Colorado or New 
Mexico or in Texas above Fort Quitman. 

ARTICLE I 

The States of Colorado, New Mexico, 
and Texas hereby declare: 

(a) That they recognize the paramount 
right and duty of the- United States, in the 
interests of international peace and har- 
mony, to determine and settle interna- 
tional controversies and claims by treaty 
and that when those purposes are accom- 
plished by that means, the treaty becomes 
the supreme law of the Nation. 

(6) That since the benefits which flow 
from the wise exercise of that authority 
and the just performance of that duty 
accrue to all the people, it follows as a 
corollary that the Nation should defray 
the cost of the discharge of any obligation 
thus assumed. 

(c) That with respect to the Rio 
Grande, the United States, without obli- 
gation imposed by international law and 
"being moved by considerations of inter- 
national comity," entered into a treaty 
dated May 21/1906 (34 Stat. 2953), with 
the United States of Mexico which obli- 
gated the United States of America to 
deliver from the Rio Grande to the 
United States of Mexico 60,000 acre-feet 
of water annually and forever, whereby 
in order to fulfill that promise the United 
States of America in effect drew upon the 
States of Colorado, New Mexico, and 
Texas a draft worth to them many 
millions of dollars, and thereby there 
was cast upon them an obligation which 
hould be borne by the Nation. 

(d) That for the economic development 
and conservation of the waters of the Rio 
Grande Basin and for the fullest realiza- 
tion of the purposes recited in the pre- 
amble to this compact, it is of primary 
importance that the area in Colorado 
known as the closed basin, be drained, and 
the water thus recovered be added to the 
flow of the river, and that a reservoir be 
constructed in Colorado upon the river 
at or near the site generally described as 
the State line reservoir site. The instal- 
lation of the drain will materially aug- 
ment the flow of the river and the con- 
struction of the reservoir will so regulate 
the flow as to remove forever the principal 
causes of the difficulties between the States 
signatory hereto. 



(e) That in alleviation of the heavy bur- 
den so placed upon them it is the earnest 
conviction of these States that, without 
cost to them, the United States should 
construct the closed basin drain and the 
State line reservoir. 

The signatory States agree that ap- 
proval by Congress of this compact shall 
not be construed as constituting an accept- 
ance or approval, directly, indirectly, or 
impliedly, of any statement or conclusion 
appearing in this article. 

ARTICLE III 

(a) Colorado, under the direction and 
administration of its State engineer, shall 
cause to be maintained and operated an 
automatic recording stream gauging sta- 
tion at each of the following points, to wit: 

1. On the Rio Grande near Del Norte 
at the station now maintained, known and 
designated herein as the Del Norte gauging 
station. (The water records from this 
station to include the flow diverted into 
the canal of the Del Norte irrigation 
system.) 

2. On the Rio Conejos near Mogote, a 
station known and designated herein as 
the Mogote gauging station. 

3. On the Rio Grande at or near the 
Colorado-New Mexico interstate line, a 
station known and designated herein as 
the interstate gauging station. 

4. Such other station or stations as may 
be necessary to comply with the provi- 
sions of this compact. 

(6) New Mexico, under the direction 
and administration of its State engineer, 
shall cause to be maintained and operated 
an automatic stream gauging station at 
each of the following points, to wit: 

1. On the Rio Grande at the station 
known as Buckman. 

2. On the Rio Grande at San Marcial. 

3. On the Rio Grande at the Elephant 
Butte Reservoir outlet. 

4. Such other station or stations as 
may be necessary to comply with the 
provisions of this compact. 

(c) Texas, under the direction and ad- 
ministration of its duly constituted official, 
shall cause to be maintained and operated 
an automatic stream gauging station at 
each of the following points, to wit: 

1. On the Rio Grande at Courchesne. 

2. On the Rio Grande at Tornillo. 

3. On the Rio Grande at Fort Quitman. 

(d) New Mexico and Texas shall estab- 
lish and maintain such other gauging 
station or stations as may be necessary 
for ascertaining and recording the release, 
flow, distribution, waste, and other dis- 
position of water at all points between 



May, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



75 



the Elephant Butte Reservoir and the 
lower end of the Rio Grande project, both 
inclusive: Provided, however, That when 
the United States shall maintain and 
operate, through any of its agencies, an 
automatic gauging station at any of the 
points herein designated, it shall not be 
necessary for the State within which said 
station is located to maintain a duplicate 
gauging station at such point, whenever 
the records of such Government stations 
are available to the authorities of the 
several States. 

(e) The officials in charge of all of the 
gauging stations herein provided for shall 
exchange records and data obtained at 
such stations for monthly periods through 
the operation thereof, or at such other 
intervals as they may jointly determine, 
and said officials shall provide for check 
ratings and such other hydrographic work 
at the designated stations as may be 
necessary for the accuracy of the records 
obtained at such stations and to that end 
may establish rules and regulations from 
time to time. 

ARTICLE IV 

The State engineer of Colorado, the 
State engineer of New Mexico, and such 
officer of Texas as the governor thereof 
may designate shall constitute a commit- 
tee which may employ such engineering 
and clerical aid as may be authorized by 
the respective State legislatures, and the 
jurisdiction of the committee shall extend 
only to the ascertainment of the flow of 
the river, to the prevention of waste of 
water, and to findings of fact reached only 
by unanimous agreement. It shall com- 
municate its findings of fact to the officers 
of the respective States charged with the 
performance of duties under this compact. 
Its findings of fact shall not be conclusive 
in any court or other tribunal which may 
be called upon to interpret or enforce this 
compact. Annual reports compiled for 
each calendar year shall be made by the 
committee and transmitted to the gov- 
ernors of the signatory States on or be- 
fore February 1 following the year cov- 
ered by such report. 

ARTICLE V 

It is agreed that to and until the con- 
struction of the closed basin drain and 
the State line reservoir herein described 
but not subsequent to June 1, 1935, or 
such other date as the signatory States 
may hereafter fix by acts of their respec- 
tive State legislatures, Colorado will not 
cause or suffer the water supply at the 
interstate gauging station to be impaired 
by new or increased diversions or storage 
within the limits of Colorado unless and 
until such depletion is offset by increase of 
drainage return. 



ARTICLE VI 

To the end that the maximum use of 
the waters of the Rio Grande may be 
made, it is agreed that at such times as 
the State engineer of New Mexico, under 
the supervision and control of the com- 
mittee, shall find that spill at Elephant 
Butte Dam is anticipated he shall forth- 
with give notice to Colorado and New 
Mexico of the estimated amount of such 
spill and of the time at which water may 
be impounded or diverted above San 
Marcial, and thereupon Colorado and 
New Mexico may use in equal portions 
the amount of such estimated spill so 
found by the State engineer of New Mex- 
ico, and on notice from the said State 
engineer of New Mexico that the period 
of said spill, or estimated spill, is termi- 
nated, Colorado and New Mexico shall 
desist from such increased use. 

ARTICLE VII 

(a) On or before the completion of the 
closed basin drain and the State line res- 
ervoir, and in any event not later than 
June 1, 1935, a commission of three mem- 
bers shall be constituted to which the 
governor of each of the signatory States 
shall appoint a commissioner for the pur- 
pose of concluding a compact among the 
signatory States and providing for the 
equitable apportionment of the use of the 
waters of the Rio Grande among said 
States. The governors of 4 said States 
shall request the President of the United 
States to name a representative to sit with 
said commission. 

(6) The commission so named shall 
equitably apportion the waters of the Rio 
Grande as of conditions obtaining on the 
river and within the Rio Grande Basin at 
the time of the signing of this compact and 
no advantage or right shall accrue or be 
asserted by reason of construction of 
works, reclamation of land, or other 
change in conditions or in use of water 
within the Rio Grande Basin or the closed 
basin during the time intervening be- 
tween the signing of this compact and the 
concluding of such subsequent compact 
to the end that the rights and equities of 
each State may be preserved unimpaired: 
Provided, however, That Colorado shall not 
be denied the right to divert, store, 
and/or use water in additional amounts 
equivalent to the flow into the river from 
the drain from the closed basin. 

(c) Any compact concluded by said 
commission shall be of no force or effect 
until ratified by the legislature of each of 
the signatory States and approved by the 
Congress of the United States. 

ARTICLE VIII 

(a) Subject to the provisions of this 
article, Colorado consents to the con- 



struction and use of a reservoir by the 
United States and/or New Mexico, and/or 
Texas, as the case may be, by the erection 
of a dam across the channel of the Rio 
Grande at a suitable point in the Canyon 
below the lower State bridge, and grants 
to the United States and/or to said States 
or to either thereof, the right to acquire 
by purchase, prescription, or the exercise 
of eminent domain such rights of way, 
easements, and/or lands as may be neces- 
sary or convenient for the construction, 
maintenance, and operation of said 
reservoir and the storage and release of 
waters. 

(6) Said reservoir shall be so con- 
structed and operated that the storage 
and release of waters therefrom and the 
flowage of water over the spillway shall 
not impede or interfere with the opera- 
tion, maintenance, and uninterrupted use 
of drainage works in the San Luis Valley 
in Colorado or with the flow and discharge 
of waters therefrom. 

(c) The construction and/or operation 
of said reservoir and the storage and regu- 
lation of flow of waters thereby for bene- 
ficial uses or otherwise shall not become the 
basis or hereafter give rise to any claim 
or appropriation of waters or of any prior, 
preferred, or superior right to the use of 
any such waters. The purpose of said 
reservoir shall be to store and regulate the 
flow of the river. 

(d) The United States, or the signatory 
States, as the case may be, shall control 
the storage and release of water from said 
reservoir and the management and opera- 
tion thereof, subject to a compact between 
the signatory States. 

(e) Colorado reserves jurisdiction and 
control over said reservoir for game, fish, 
and all other purposes not herein relin- 
quished. 

(/) Colorado waives rights of taxation 
of said reservoir and appurtenant struc- 
tures and all lands by it occupied. 

ARTICLE IX 

Nothing in this compact shall be con- 
strued as affecting the obligations of the 
United States of America to the United 
States of Mexico, or to the Indian Tribes, 
or as impairing the rights of the Indian 

Tribes. 

ARTICLE X 

It is declared by the States signatory 
hereto to be the policy of all parties 
hereto to avoid waste of waters, and to 
that end the officials charged with the 
performance of duties hereunder shall use 
their utmost efforts to prevent wastage of 

waters. 

ARTICLE XI 

Subject to the provisions of this com- 
pact, water of the Rio Grande or any of 



76 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



May, 1929 



its tributaries, may be impounded and 
used fur t he generation of power, lull such 
impounding and use shall always be sub- 
servient to the use and consumption of 
such waters for domestic, municipal, and 
agricult ural purposes. Water shall not be 
stored, detained, nor discharged so as to 
prevent or impair use for such dominant 
purposes. 

ARTICLE XII 

New Mexico agrees with Texas with 
the understanding that prior vested rights 
above and below Elephant Butte Reser- 
voir shall never be impaired hereby, that 
she will not cause or suffer the water 
supply of the Elephant Butte Reservoir 
to be impaired by new or increased diver- 
sion or storage within the limits of New 
Mexico unless and until such depletion is 
offset by increase of drainage return. 

ARTICLE XIII 

The physical and other conditions char- 
acteristic of the Rio Grande and peculiar 
to the territory drained and served there- 
by, and to the development thereof, have 
actuated this compact and none of the 
signatory States admits that any provi- 
sion herein contained establishes any gen- 
eral principle or precedent applicable to 
other interstate streams. 

ARTICLE XIV 

This compact may be terminated or 
extended at any time by the unanimous 
legislative action of all of the signatory 
States, and in that event all rights estab- 
lished under it shall remain and continue 
unimpaired. 



ARTICLE XV 

Nothing herein contained shall prevent 
t he adjustment or settlement of any claim 
or controversy between these States by 
direct legislative action of the interested 
States, nor shall anything herein con- 
tained be construed to limit the right of 
any State to invoke the jurisdiction of 
any court of competent jurisdiction for 
the protection of any right secured to such 
State by the provisions of this compact, 
or to enforce any provision thereof. 

ARTICLE XVI 

Nothing in this compact shall be con- 
sidered or construed as recognizing, estab- 
lishing, or fixing any status of the river 
or the accuracy of any data or records or 
the rights or equities of any of the signa- 
tories or as a recognition, acceptance or 
acknowledgment of any plan or principle 
or of any claim or assertion made or ad- 
vanced by either of the signatories or 
hereafter construed as in any manner 
establishing any principle or precedent as 
regards future equitable apportionment of 
the water of the Rio Grande. The signa- 
tories agree that the plan herein adopted 
for administration of the water of the Rio 
Grande is merely a temporary expedient 
to be applied during the period of time 
in this compact specified, is a compromise 
temporary in nature and shall have no 
otKer force or interpretation and that the 
plan adopted as a basis therefor is not to 
be construed as in any manner establish- 
ing, acknowledging, or defining any status, 
condition, or principle at this or any other 
time. 




Cotton grown on Schutz Bros, ranch, Yuma project, Arizona 



ARTICLE XVII 

The signatories consent and agree to 
the extension of time for construction of 
reservoirs on sites covered by approved 
applications during the time of this com- 
pact and for a reasonable time thereafter. 

ARTICLE XVIII 

This compact shall become operative 
when approved by the legislature of each 
of the signatory States and by the Con- 
gress of the United States. Notice of 
approval shall be given by the governor 
of each State to the governors of the 
other States and to the President of the 
United States, and the President of the 
United States is requested to give notice 
to the governors of each of the signatory 
States of its approval by the Congress of 
the United States. 

In witness whereof the commissioners 
have signed this compact, in quadruplicate 
original, one of which shall be deposited 
in the archives of the Department of 
State of the United States of America 
and shall be deemed the authoritative 
original, and of which a duly certified 
copy shall be forwarded to the governor 
of each of the signatory States. 

Done at the city of Santa Fe, in the 
State of New Mexico, on the 12th day 
of February, in the year of our Lord, 
one thousand nine hundred and twenty- 
nine. 

DELPH E. CARPENTER. 
FRANCIS C. WILSON. 
T. H. MCGREGOR. 

Approved. 

WILLIAM J. DONOVAN. 



Two Bales an Acre 

Yuma Cotton Farm 



on 



An average slightly in excess of 2 bales 
of cotton per acre was shown in final 
figures received recently by Schutz Bros., 
of Somerton, Ariz., on the Yuma Federal 
irrigation project, from the cotton gin 
which handled their crop the past season. 
Their 150 acres produced 330 bales of 500 
pounds each. The accompanying illus- 
tration shows where the 2 bales an acre 
came from. 



CONSTRUCTION of a cold-storage 
\^j plant on the Yakima project at a cost 
of $110,000 has been started by the buying 
agents for the Olympic Packing Co. The 
plant is being constructed primarily for 
the storage of cannery pears, and when 
this fruit has been removed the space will 
be used for the storage of apples. 



May, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



77 



Vale and Owyhee 

Settlement Meeting 

At a mass meeting held in Vale, Oreg., 
recently, at which about 100 persons 
interested in the settlement of the Vale 
and Owyhee projects were present, in- 
cluding George C. Kreutzer, Director of 
Reclamation Economics, and officials 
representing the Union Pacific Railroad, 
the Oregon Agricultural College, the 
State Chamber of Commerce, and the 
Portland Chamber of Commerce, plans 
were formulated for the organization of 
the Vale-Owyhee Government Projects 
Land Settlement Association. The object 
of the association is to promote the settle- 
ment and development of the Vale and 
Owyhee irrigation district lands. A tem- 
porary organization was formed at that 
time and later a permanent organization 
was perfected consisting of the three 
directors of the Vale (Oreg.) irrigation 
district, the three directors of the Owyhee 
irrigation district, and one representative 
each of the commercial clubs of Ontario, 
Nyssa, Harper, and Vale, Oreg. J. D. 
Fairman, of Harper, was elected president; 
C. H. Oxman, of Ontario, vice president; 
and Estes Morton, of Harper, secretary- 
treasurer, all of whom are to serve for a 
period of one year. 



Citrus Development 
Grande Va 



in the Lower Rio 
lley, Texas 



By Harry Sexton, Brownsville, Tex. 



ORANGES and grapefruit have been 
grown under irrigation in the 
lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas since 
the establishment of the Spanish colonies 
in 1750, but the industry was not placed 
upon a commercial scale until 1920, fol- 
lowing exhaustive tfsts by Government 
experts and others to determine the 
proper rootstock. Heavy plantings began 
in 1921, a census completed in the summer 
of 1928 showing 477,000 trees planted 
between 1920 and 1923. By 1926 the 
annual plantings had been increased to 
645,000, and the peak of plantings was 
attained in 1927-28 with 1,204,000 trees 
set in the orchard rows. The 1928-29 
plantings are expected to show approxi- 
mately the same as the preceding season. 
With approximately 4,400,000 trees 
planted, development is proceeding rap- 
idly, although less than 15 per cent of the 
total number of trees are bearing. Ap- 
proximately 80 per cent of the past 
season's plantings are grapefruit. 




Grapefruit (Duncan variety) grown in orchard of L. B. Mayer, San Benito, Tex., Lower Rio Grande Valley 



The Marsh Seedless is the favored 
variety, representing approximately 70 
per cent of the plantings. Duncan, 
Foster, and Wolters are the seeded varie- 
ties, and both Foster and Marsh Pinks 
are being planted extensively. Valen- 
cias, Pason Browns, Pineapple, and 
Temples are the favored varieties for the 
orange plantings. 

Lower Rio Grande Valley grapefruit 
is in heavy demand in the central mar- 
kets, owing to its fine flavor and high 
sugar content. The sizes are approxi- 
mately the same as the Florida and Cali- 
fornia varieties. The distinctive flavor 
is believed to be due to the long summer 
season, equable temperature, and high 
fertility of the soil, which requires no 
fertilizer under ordinary conditions though 
many growers are beginning to use fer- 
tilizer in small quantities with excellent 
results. 

Shipments from the valley in 1927-28, 
comprising the fruit of the earliest plant- 
ings, totaled 1,600 cars, and were in- 
creased to 2,200 cars in the 1928-29 sea- 
son, closing April 1. According to esti- 
mates based on plantings, the 1929-30 
shipments will be approximately 5,000 
cars, with an increase of .10,000 cars in 
1930-31. The present acreage will not 
come into full bearing for five years, indi- 
cating that the 1934-35 movement of 
citrus fruits will range between 25,000 and 
30,000 cars. 

The extent to which the citrus-fruit 
industry may be developed in the lower 
Rio Grande Valley depends entirely upon 
consumption and development of mar- 
kets. Approximately 75,000 acres have 
been planted. Citrus fruit can, however, 
be grown on practically all lands in the 
valley, which now has over 350,000 acres 
producing citrus, winter vegetables, and 
staple crops vinder irrigation. 

Practically all major development pro- 
jects under way in the lower border 
county country are devoted almost 
exclusively to citrus fruits. During the 
past year four additional irrigation proj- 
ects have been organized in Cameron 
County and two in Hidalgo, and the 
major part of the new acreage will be 
planted to fruit within two years. 



78 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



May, 1929 



Legislation Relating to the Federal Irrigation Projects 



Town Sites 

Be il enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That the 
Secretary of the Interior is hereby author- 
ized, in his discretion, to appraise and 
sell, at public auction, to the highest 
bidder, from time to time, for cash, any or 
all of the unplatted portions of Govern- 
ment town sites created under the act 
of April 16, 1906 (Thirty-fourth Statutes, 
page 116), on any irrigation project con- 
structed under the act of June 17, 1902 
(Thirty-second Statutes, page 388), or 
acts amendatory thereof or supplementary 
thereto: Provided, That any land so offered 
for sale and not disposed of may after- 
wards be sold, at not less than the ap- 
praised value, at private sale, under such 
regulations as the Secretary of the 
Interior may prescribe. Patents made in 
pursuance of such sale shall convey all the 
right, title, and interest of the United 
States in or to the land so sold. 

SEC. 2. The net proceeds of such sales 
after deducting all expenditures on ac- 
count of such lands, and the project con- 
struction charge, for the irrigable area of 
the lands so sold where irrigation or 
drainage works have been constructed or 
are proposed to be constructed, shall be 
disposed of as provided in Subsection I of 
section 4 of the act of December fi, 1924 
(Forty-third Statutes, page 672) . Where 
the project construction charge shall not 
have been fixed at the date of any such 
sale same shall be estimated by the Sec- 
retary of the Interior. 

SEC. 3. Reclamation funds are author- 
ized to be appropriated for use in defraying 
the necessary expenses of appraisement 
and sale of the lands herein authorized to 
be sold, and the Secretary of the Interior 
is authorized to perform any and all acts 
and to make such rules and regulations as, 
in his opinion, may be necessary and 
proper for carrying out the purposes of 
this act. 

Approved, March 2, 1929. 

Compacts or Agreements 
for Water Apportionment 

ARKANSAS RIVER 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That the 
consent of Congress is hereby given to 
the States of Colorado, Oklahoma, and 
Kansas to negotiate and enter into com- 
pacts or agreements providing for an 
equitable division and apportionment 
between such States of the water supply 
of the Arkansas River and of the streams 
tributary thereto and of all other streams 
in which such States are jointly interested. 

SEC. 2. Such consent is given upon con- 
dition that a representative of the United 
States from any department of the United 
States Government, to be appointed by 
the President, shall participate in the 
negotiations and shall make report to 
Congress of the proceedings and of any 
compact or agreement entered into. 
Other than the compensation and ex- 
penses of such representative the United 



States shall not be liable for any ex- 
penses in connection with such negotia- 
tions, compact, or agreement. The pay- 
ment of such expenses of such represent- 
ative is authorized to be paid from the 
appropriations for cooperative and general 
investigations for the Bureau of Reclama- 
tion. 

SEC. 3. No such compact or agreement 
shall be binding or obligatory upon either 
of such States unless and until it has 
been approved by the legislature of each 
of such States and by the Congress of the 
United States. 

SEC. 4. The right to alter, amend, or 
repeal this act is herewith expressly 
reserved. 

Approved, March 2, 1929. 



GILA AND SAN FRANCISCO RIVERS 

Be il enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United Stales of 
America in Congress assembled, That the 
consent of Congress is hereby given to 
the States of New Mexico and Arizona 
to negotiate and enter into compacts or 
agreements providing for an equitable 
division and apportionment between such 
States of the water supply of the Gila and 
San Francisco Rivers and of the streams 
tributary thereto and of all other streams 
in which such States are jointly in- 
terested. 

SEC. 2. Such consent is given upon 
condition that a representative of the 
United States from the Department of 
the Interior, to be appointed by the 
President, shall participate in the nego- 
tiations and shall make report to Congress 
of the proceedings and of any compact 
or agreement entered into. Other than 
the compensation and expenses of such 
representative the United States shall 
not be liable for any expenses in connec- 
tion with such negotiations, compact, or 
agreement. The payment of such ex- 
penses of such representative are author- 
ized to be paid from the appropriations 
for cooperative and general investiga- 
tions for the Bureau of Reclamation. 

SEC. 3. No such compact or agreement 
shall be binding or obligatory upon either 
of such States unless and until it has been 
approved by the legislature of each of 
such States and by the Congress of the 
United States. 

SEC. 4. The right to alter, amend, or 
repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved. 

Approved, March 2, 1929. 



CIMARRON RIVER 

Be il enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That the 
consent of Congress is hereby given to 
the States of New Mexico and Oklahoma 
to negotiate and enter into compacts or 
agreements providing for an equitable 
division and apportionment between such 
States of the water supply of the Cimar- 
ron River and of the streams tributary 
thereto and of all other streams in which 
such States are jointly interested. 

(Sees. 2, 3, and 4 same as in preceding 
act.) 

Approved, March 2, 1929. 



RIO GRANDE, PECOS, AND CANADIAN OR 
RED RIVERS 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United Stales of 
America in Congress assembled, That the 
consent of Congress is hereby given to the 
States of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and 
Texas to negotiate and enter into com- 
pacts or agreements providing for an 
equitable division and apportionment be- 
tween such States of the water supply of 
the Rio Grande, Pecos, and Canadian or 
Red Rivers, and of the streams tributary 
thereto, and of all other streams in which 
such States are jointly interested. 

(Sees. 2, 3, and 4 same as in preceding 
act.) 

Approved, March 2, 1929. 

RIO GRANDE, SAN JUAN, AND LAS ANIMAS 
RIVERS 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That the 
consent of Congress is hereby given to 
the States of Colorado and New Mexico 
to negotiate and enter into compacts or 
agreements providing for an equitable 
division and apportionment between such 
States of the water supply of the Rio 
Grande, San Juan, and Las Animas 
Rivers and of the streams tributary 
thereto and of all other streams in which 
such States are jointly interested. 

(Sees. 2, 3, and 4 same as in preceding 
act.) 

Approved, March 2, 1929. 

Construction Credits, 
Yuma Project 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United Slates of 
America in Congress assembled, That the 
act entitled "An act to authorize credit 
upon the construction charges of certain 
water-right applicants and purchasers on 
the Yuma and Yuma Mesa auxiliary 
projects, and for other purposes," ap- 
proved June 28, 1926, be amended so as 
to read as follows: 

"That the Secretary of the Interior be, 
and he is hereby, authorized and directed 
to credit the individual water-right appli- 
cants on the Yuma reclamation project 
and the purchasers of water rights on the 
Yuma Mesa auxiliary project, on the con- 
struction charges due under their con- 
tracts with the United States under the 
Reclamation act and acts amendatory 
thereof and supplementary thereto, with 
their proportionate part of all payments 
heretofore made or hereinafter to be made 
by the Imperial irrigation district of Cali- 
fornia under contract entered into under 
date of October 23, 1918, between the 
said district and the Secretary of the In- 
terior: Provided, That lands in the Yuma 
Indian Reservation for which water rights 
have been purchased shall share pro rata 
in the credits so to be applied: Provided 
further, That where construction charges 
are paid in full said payments shall be 
credited on operation and maintenance 
charges assessed against the lands to 
which said payments would otherwise 
apply." 

Approved, February 26, 1929. 



May, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



79 




SOUTHERN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE 

Left to right: David R. Coker, South Carolina; J. M. Patterson, Georgia; Rutledge Smith, Tennessee; Hugh MacRae, North Carolina; Burdette O. Lewis, Florida; 

R. E. Lambert, Alabama; L. O. Crosby, Mississippi 



Southern Development 

Committee Confers 

The accompanying illustration shows 
the members of the Southern Develop- 
ment Committee who conferred with 
President Hoover and Secretary of the 
Interior Wilbur during March and with 
Secretary of Agriculture Hyde early in 
April on plans for a continuation of work 
by the Bureau of Reclamation on planned 
group settlements in the South. 

Dr. E. C. Branson, of the University 
of NortK Carolina, was also with the 
committee when calling on the President. 
H. H. Frasier, of Alabama; Mr. Gwinn, 
of the J. C. Penny-Gwinn Corporation; 
Mr. Patterson, Mr. MacRae, and Mr. 
Coker made up the committee of five 
who conferred with Secretary Hyde. 



Reclamation Engineers 

Guests of A . S. C. E. 

The engineers of the Bureau of Recla- 
mation attending the Denver office con- 
ference were guests at the regular meet- 
ing of the Colorado Section of the Amer- 
ican Society of Civil Engineers at the 
University Club in Denver on March 13, 
at which the commissioner spoke on the 
Colorado River development and con- 
struction of the Boulder Canyon Dam; 



and papers were presented on the sub- 
ject of Better Concrete and How to 
Obtain It, by various engineers of the 
bureau, including B. W. Steele, Denver 
office; W. R. Young, Kittitas division; 
F. A. Banks, Owyhee project; Ralph 
Lowry, Gibson Dam; H. J. Gault, Stony 
Gorge Dam; and F. F. Smith, Echo Dam. 

Rio Grande Project 

Industrial Development 

The El Paso Post stated in a recent 
issue that Tornillo, on the Rio Grande 
project, is an example of what energetic 



New Map Available 

A new map of the Boise project, 
Idaho, has been issued recently by the 
Bureau of Reclamation. In addi- 
tion to canals, laterals, and drains, 12 
irrigation districts, in distinctive pat- 
terns, are shown on the map. Views 
of the Arrowrock, Black Canyon, and 
Boise diversion dams are also in- 
cluded. The size of this map (No. 
21900) is 36 by S7 inches, and the 
sale price has been fixed at 25 cents a 
copy. 



and enterprising farmers can accomplish. 
It is a manufacturing village, made so by 
the farmers in that neighborhood. It is 
easily located by a large cotton gin and 
oil mill on one side of the railroad track 
and a big feed-grinding mill and cattle- 
feeding pens on the other. All these are 
exclusively farmer owned. They have 
been developed into a big, prosperous, 
and thriving business. 

"The feeding pens not only turn out 
fattened stock but fertilizer is hauled 
from these back to the farms. Near the 
grinding mill once stood an immense 
stack of cotton stalks and another of 
milo maize from the Panhandle. The 
two were ground up with alfalfa and the 
mixture sweetened with molasses, thus 
making a choice cattle-fattening feed. 

"The profits this year of the 100 per 
cent farmer-owned-and-operated mill are 
expected to amount to 50 per cent on the 
investment, notwithstanding the fact that 
the mill was two months late in starting. 
The profits will be expended in enlarging 
and improving the plant. It was a 
$30,000 mill to start with. The plan is 
to make it a $60,000 enterprise. The 
capacity is 50 tons per day. In the be- 
ginning, to show their faith in the propo- 
sition, three Tornillo farmers signed an 
obligation of $75,000 to a bank to put the 
mill over. There were 29 stockholders in 
the mill originally. There were just that 
many farmers in the Tornillo section 
when the mill was launched." 



80 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



May, 1929 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



DH. Kluooil Mead, rommissionrr, 
gave a talk on April !l before I he 
Board of Surveys and Maps, a coordinat- 
ing agency of the Federal Government, 
on the relation of surveying and mapping 
to the Houlder Canyon develo])inont. 



R. V. Y\ 'alter, cliief engineer, arrived at 
the Washington office on April 19 to con- 
fer with the commissioner on Boulder 
Canyon, the budget, and other matters. 



J. B. Bonny, president, and J. M. 
Bruce, vice president of the Derbon Con- 
struction Co., were recent visitors on the 
Minidoka gravity extension unit. 



Tom A. Clark, assistant engineer, and 
C. C. Ketchum, associate engineer, were 
detailed temporarily to the Denver office 
to assist in the preparation of specifica- 
tions for advertising for bids for the con- 
struction of the next 16.3 miles of the 
Vale main canal. 



Dr. J. J. Sarazin, president of the 
Owyhee Irrigation District, and W. F. 
Davidson, of the Oregon and Western 
Colonization Co., visited the Owyhee Dam 
site recently. 

I. D. O'Donnell, of Billings, Mont,, 
spent several days on the Milk River 
project assisting the Utah-Idaho Sugar 
Co. in obtaining crop contracts. Other 
visitors to the project included C. C. 



Carey, of Winston Bros. Co., Minneap- 
olis; Scott Hart, district engineer. Slate 
Highway Commission; and C. D. Green- 
lield, agricultural development a sent of 
the (ircat Northern Railway. 



Dana Templin, associate engineer, who 
has been connected with the American 
Falls office for several years, has been 
assigned to duty at the Burley office, 
Minidoka project. 



L. N. McClellan, electrical engineer 
from the Denver office, spent two days 
on the Orland project in connection with 
the electrical installation at Stony Gorge 
Dam. 



Governor Weaver has appointed a com- 
mittee on irrigation to inquire into inter- 
state water rights and appropriations in 
Nebraska. The committee comprises R. 
H. Willis, chief of irrigation, power, and 
drainage, Bridgeport, Nebr.; H. F. Par- 
sons, of Scottsbluff, Nebr., manager of the 
Farmers' Irrigation District, to represent 
the water users in the upper territory; 
and J. C. McNamara, of North Platte, 
Nebr., to represent the users in the lower 
territorv . 




II. Kenneth Smith, assistant engineer, 
who for the past eight months has been 
engaged in making surveys and studies of 
storage possibilities on the lower Rio 
(irande for the State Department, has 
returned to the Klamath project. 



Recent visitors on the Minidoka project 
included A. J. Wiley, consulting engineer, 
of Boise; F. A. Banks, construction engi- 
neer, Owyhee project; and B. E. Stout e- 
myer, district counsel. 



Threshing alfalfa seed, Valley Division, Yuma project, Arizona 



Recent visitors on the Yuma project 
included George Joel Harris, Assistant 
Commissioner General of Immigration; 
C. S. Scofield, principal agriculturist in 
charge, Western Irrigation Agriculture; 
Prof. G. E. P. Smith, irrigation engineer, 
['Diversity of Arizona; L. M. Lawson, 
chairman, International Boundary Com- 
mission; G. H. Flebbe, president, Holly- 
wood Corporation; and A. L. Sonderegger, 
consulting engineer, Los Angeles. 



Watson W. Snyder, chief dragline oper- 
ator, has been transferred from the Yuma 
project to the Sun River project. 



Bennett B. Hill, instrument man, has 
been transferred from the Boise to the 
Miridoka project. 



F. R. McMillan, director of research of 
the Portland Cement Association, Chicago, 
spent two days recently in the Washing- 
ton office studying feature reports and 
project histories relating to Reclamation 
Bureau structures. Mr. McMillan, who 
had charge of important construction 
work on the Sunnyside division of the 
Yakima project dining 1907-1909 is 
planning to visit a number of reclamation 
projects this summer in the course of a 
western trip undertaken in the interest of 
the association for the purpose of studying 
the factors affecting the permanence of 
concrete structures. 



C. A. Bissell, Chief of the Engineering 
Division of the Washington office, repre- 
sented the bureau at a meeting of Com- 
mittee C-l of the American Society for 
Testing Materials, on cement specifica- 
tions, held at the Bureau of Standards 
April 18. 

Albert Paddock, superintendent of con- 
struction on the Gibson Dam, Sun River 
project, was killed recently by being 
struck by another workman who lost his 
balance and fell from a height of about 
100 feet, striking Mr. Paddock, who was 
working about 60 feet below him. Mr. 
Paddock was a former employee of the 
Bureau of Reclamation. 

U. a. GOVERNMENT HUNTING OFFICE ! 1928 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Jos. M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 

Northcutt Ely and Ernest W. Sawyer, Executive Assistants 

Washington, D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 

Denser. Colorado, Wilda Building 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Offutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; 
C. A. Lyman, Fiscal Inspector. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 


Belle Fourche 


Newell, S. Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt J. P. Siebeneicher... 
R J Newell W L Vernon 


J P Siebeneicher 


Wm J Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise ' 


Boise, Idaho 








Carlsbad, N Mex 


L E Foster W C Berger 


W C Berger 


H J S Devrie 1 ' 




Grand Junction, Colo_ 


J C Page W J Chiesman 


W J Chiesman 




Huntley ! 


E E. Lewis 






King Hill' 


King Hill, Idaho... 


F. L. Kinkade.. 






Klamath 


Klamath Falls, Oreg. 


H. D. Newell.. N. Q. Wheeler 


Joseph C. Avery 
E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E. Chabot 


K. J. Coffey... 
E E Roddis 


Lower Yellowstone 
Milk River. _. 


II A Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann__ 
E. E. Chahot 


Malta, Mont 


H H Johnson 


do 


Minidoka 4 


Burley, Idaho.. 


E. B. Darlington G. C. Patterson 


Miss A. J. Larson 


B. E. Stoutemyer... 
R. J. Coffey 


Newlands ! 


Fallon, Nev._ .. 


D. S. Stuver.. '__ 




North Platte" 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H. C. Stetson. Virgil E. Hubbell 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Wm. J. Burke 


Okanogan " 


Okanoean. Wash 


Joe C. Iddings. 






Orland. Orland. Calif 


R. C. E. Weber C. H. I.illineston i C. H. Lillinirston 


R. J Coffey 


Owyhee - . 


Owyhee, Oreg 


F. A. Banks . 


H. N. Bickel 


Frank P. Greene 
L. S. Kennicott 


B. E. Stoutemver 
H. J. S. Devries 
Wm J Burke 


Rio Grande . 


El Paso, Tex 


L. R. Fiock. 


Henry II. Berryhill... 
R. B. Smith 


Riverton 


Riverton. Wvo 


H. D. Comstock 


R. B. Smith 


Salt River . ; Phoenix, Ariz. 


C. C. Cragin 






Shoshone ' Powell. Wvo 


L. H. Mitchell 


W. F. Sha 


E E Roddis 


Strawberry Valley ">. . . 
Sun River " 


Payson, Utah 


Lee R. Taylor 








Fairfleld, Mont 


G. O. Sanford 


H. W. Johnson 




E E Roddis 




(Irrigon, Oreg 


A. C. Iloughton 








Uncompahgre 


\Hermiston, Oreg 


Enos D. Martin . 








Montrose, Colo 
Vale, Oreg 


L. J. Foster 
H. W. Bashore..- 
P J Preston 


G. H. Bolt... 
C. M. Voyen 
R. K. Cunningham... 
II. R. Pasewalk. 


F. D. Helm... 
C. M. Voyen 
J C Gawler 




Vale 


B. E. Stoutemyer... 
do 


Yakima 




Yuma 


Yuma, Ariz 


R. M. Priest ._ 


E. M. Philebaum 


R. J. Coffey 



Large Construction Wor 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo Coalville, Utah 


F. F. Smith " 


C. F. Williams 








Dam. 
Kittitas Ellensburg, Wash 


Walker R. Young " 


E R. Mills 








Sun River, Gibson Augusta, Mont 


Ralph Lowry 13 


F. C Lewis 


F C Lewis 


E E Roddis 




Dam. 
Sun River, Main Canal Fairfleld, Mont 


A. W. Walker "... 






do 


Do. 


Construction. 













i Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1,1926. 

1 Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1927. 

' Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 

4 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation Dis- 
trict on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District on 
Dec. 2, 1916. 

5 Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 
31, 1926. 

' Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by 
Northport Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



; Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 

8 Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. 

9 Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

1 Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on Dec. 
1, 1926. 

11 Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

" Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, and East Division by Hermiston Irrigation District informally on 
July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926. 

M Construction engineer. 



Important I ncestigalions in Progress 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 


Paradise-Verde district investigations... .. 


Phoenix, Ariz 


J. R. lakisch 




Heart Mountain investigations 
Utah investigations... _ 


Powell, Wyo._ 
Salt Lake City, Utah 


I. B. Hosig... 
E. O. Larson 


State of Utah. 


Truckee River investigations 




A. W. Walker 




Yakima project extensions.. 




P. J. Preston 













HUGH A. BROWN, Editor. 



5m'*-\W'; 




o 
G: 
a. 



CO 

I 
o 

D 

en 



RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



JUNE, 1929 



NO. 6 




CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS ON 405-FOOT OWYHEE DAM 

LEFT TO RIGHT; DIVERSION AND SPILLWAY TUNNEL READY TO LINE; OUTER COFFERDAM FLOODED: TRESTLE FOR LOWER COFFERDAM 

FINISHED AND JETTY PILES BEING DRIVEN 



A Prophecy Fulfilled 




HE reclamation and settlement 
of the arid lands will enrich 
every portion of our country, 
just as the settlement of the Ohio 
and Mississippi Valleys brought 
prosperity to the Atlantic States. 
The increased demand for manufactured articles 
will stimulate production, while wider home mar- 
J^ets and the trade of Asia will consume the larger 
food supplies and effectually prevent Western 
competition with Eastern agriculture. Indeed the 
products of our irrigation will be consumed chiefly 
in upbuilding local centers of mining and other 
industries, which would not otherwise come 
into existence at all. Our people as a 
whole will profit, for successful 
homemaf^ing is but another 
name for the upbuild- 
ing of the nation." 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cents a year 



RAY LYMAN WILBUR 

Secretary of the Interior 



KLWOOD MEAD 
Commissioner, Bureau of ReoUnution 



Vol. 20 



June, 1929 



No. 6 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



THE area contracted to be planted to 
sugar beets on the Minidoka project 
amounts to about 5,600 acres, of which 
2,400 acres are on the north side and 
3,200 acres on the south side. Last year 
the total area in this crop was only 1,733 
acres. 



THE large hatchery at Loving on the 
Carlsbad project sold 15,000 baby- 
chicks during the month to water users 
on the project and to the outside trade. 



THEmonthly report of the Mini-Cassia 
Cow Testing Association, now known 
as the Mini-Cassia Dairy Herd Improve- 
ment Association, shows that first place 
was won by Robert Girardell, of Rupert, 
Idaho, on the Minidoka project, whose 
registered Holstein cow produced 2,427 
pounds of milk and 82.5 pounds of butter- 
fat in April. 

THE 30-piece band of the Irrigon- 
School, West Extension Irrigation 
District, Umatilla project, entered a state- 
wide contest in Portland, Oreg:, on May 
11. A remarkable feature of this band 
is that out of a total enrollment of 42 in 
the high school and the last four grades 
of the grade school, 32 are members of 
the band, and 3 more will be members by 
the time school closes this summer. 



THE Oregon Packing Co. has an- 
nounced plans for the erection of a 
cannery on the Yakima project costing 
$50,000, to use 6,000 tons of pears and 
employ 900 people for five months. 



SM. COLBY, a water user in the' reser- 
. vation division of the Yuma project, 
has shipped more than 3,000 crates of 
strawberries from the first picking of this 
season's crop from a 12-acre patch. It is 
expected that the second crop will produce 
over 2,500 crates. 



NINE Holstein bulls have been pur- 
chased by the Burley-Delco Bull 
Association, Minidoka project, nearly all 
of them coming from farms in Washing- 
ton and Oregon. They are all descend- 
ants of or related to a cow that for two 
years is reported to have been champion 
milk and butterfat producer of the 
United States, with a record of 1,432 
pounds of butterfat in one year. 



THE advertising committee of the Vale- 
Owyhee Government Projects Settle- 
ment Association is preparing data for a 
booklet descriptive of the Vale and Owy- 
hee projects, for distribution to prospec- 
tive settlers. 



THE Montrose Junior Band, made up 
of boys and girlg from the high school 
and grade school of Montrose, Uncom- 
pahgre project, and numbering about 70 
pieces, won the first prize in Class A com- 
petition at Grand Junction on April 28, 
over 16 bands located on the western 
slope of Colorado. The band will com- 
pete in the national contest at Denver, 
May 23 to 25. 



E Central Pacific Railway has 
JL started laying track from Klamath 
Falls, and at the end of the month had 
laid track to a point about two miles 
west of Merrill, Oreg. 



THE Belle Fourche Commercial Club 
and the Izaak Walton League are 
working on a program to beautify the 
shores of Orman Reservoir, Belle Fourche 
project. Contributions from the various 
towns are being solicited with a view to 
constructing laterals to take out of the 
supply canal and lead water around the 
shore line for several miles. The plant- 
ing of trees and shrubs will be extended 
over several years. 



A REPRESENTATIVE of the Holly 
_/~\. Sugar Co. spent several days on ihe 
Klamath project and arranged for the 
growing of 40 acres of sugar beets for dem- 
onstrations purposes. These demonstra- 
tions are being made in or adjacent to the 
Tule Lake division. 



1 ' 



TH' the grading of 4 acres com- 
ted for the recreation park at 
Lahontan reservoir, Newlands project^ 
and' with trees being planted, the improve- 
ments are beginning to show promise of 
the bathing resort planned by the State 
Fish and Game Commission. 



'~pHREE prizes offered by the El Pascf 
J_ Chamber of Commerce for ,fh<e 
greatest cotton production per acre, in 
1928 were won by farmers in the vicinity 
of Fabens. Rio Grande project. The first 
prize of $300 went to B. C. Breeding, who 
raised 3.6 bales per acre. A. E. Ross was 
second, with 3.2 bales, and Charles Miller, 
third, with 2.4. bales. 



w 



>HAT is stated to be the largest ex- 
port deal in boxed apples from the 
Pacific' Northwest was consummated re- 
cently' by "a telephone conversation be- 
tweeri a' 'chid storage company on the 
Yakl'rna project and a London firm. The 
Yakima concern will furnish 400 to 500 
carloads of apples and pears a season 
under a 3 year contract involving $650,000 
annually. 



TWO cooperative marketing organiza- 
tions., Svere formed recently on the 
Orland project. A permanent organiza- 
tion was effected of the Gless County 
Turkey Growers Association, as one of 
seven county cooperative units in the 
Sacramento Valley. Articles of incorpo- 
ration have been filed by the Glenn 
County Prune and Apricot Growers. 

81 



82 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



June, 1929 



Economic Survey of Certain Reclamation Projects 



PLANS have been made for an eco- 
nomic survey of reclamation this 
summer, beginning shortly after the 
middle of June. The following letter, 
recommending the survey and outlining 
its scope, was sent by Commissioner 
Mead to Secretary Wilbur on April 8 and 
approved by him on April 10: 
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, 
Washington, D. C., Aprils, 19S9. 
The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 

DEAR MR. SECRETARY: It is planned, 
with your approval, to make an economic 
survey of reclamation during the coming 
summer, using for this purpose certain 
Federal projects where works are com- 
pleted, others where works are being con- 
structed, and certain private projects in 
financial distress where Government aid 
is asked. The proposed survey would 
commence in June of this year. The 
field work would continue for about a 
month, and be followed by an analysis of 
the data collected and the preparation of a 
report, to be submitted to you about the 
1st of September. The following are the 
reasons for the proposed survey: 

There is general agreement that the 
engineering operations of the Bureau of 
Reclamation are well conceived and capa- 
bly carried out, but we are still drifting 
with regard to the economic principles and 
policies which should govern our conclu- 
sions as to feasibility or shape develop- 
ment of projects. Reclamation requires 
more than canals and reservoirs. The 
qualifications of settlers, the kind of agri- 
culture which should be followed, and in 
general, those factors which determine 
earning power and well-being and con- 
tentment of the people of the communi- 
ties created are as important as the engi- 
neering factors. 

The results on a majority of the Federal 
reclamation projects fully justify the 
national policy. A great wealth in land 
has been created, farmers are prosperous, 
and the payments required under the con- 
tracts are being made, but there are other 
projects where development has been 
slow, where settlers are struggling in all 
stages of discouragement and hardship, 
and where delinquency in payments has 
been an inevitable result. 

The making of this investigation at an 
early date is regarded as desirable because 
on backward projects a large percentage 
of the farms are either not irrigated or are 
poorly cultivated, with such low returns 
as to create grave doubt as to whether the 
contract obligations to the Government 
can be met. The data which it is pro- 



posed to gather will be most helpful in 
determining what can and should be done 
to improve conditions and in aiding Con- 
gress in enacting desirable legislation. 

The field of these studies would include 
the Stanfield and Westland districts in 
Oregon; the Bitter Root district in 
Montana; the Gem and Emmett districts 
and the King Hill project in Idaho; the 
Orchard Mesa division of the Grand 
Valley project in Colorado; the Shasta 
View district of the Klamath project, 
Oregon-California; the Owyhee project, 
Oregon-Idaho; the Northport division of 
the North Platte project, in Nebraska 
and Wyoming; the Sun River, Milk 
River, and Lower Yellowstone projects in 
Montana; the Willwood division of the 
Shoshone project in Wyoming. The 
economic data on the Stanfield and West- 
land districts have already been gathered. 
Much information has been submitted on 
the King Hill project in Idaho. 

A large part of the field work would be 
done by members of the staff of the Recla- 
mation Bureau. It would be under the 
direction of George C. Kreutzer, director 
of Reclamation Economics, assisted by 
H. A Brown, assistant director; B. E. 
Hayden, reclamation economist; and 
W. W. Johnston, associate reclamation 
economist. There would be detailed to 
this work L. H. Mitchell, superintendent 
of the Shoshone project; H. H. Johnson, 
superintendent of the Milk River proj- 
ect; G. O. Sanford, superintendent of the 
Sun River project; and B. E. Stoutemyer, 
district counsel, Portland, Oreg. These 
employees would receive their regular 
salaries, with an allowance for travel and 
living expenses while detailed to this 
work. 

In addition, it is desired to employ 
three economic experts having no con- 
nection with the Bureau of Reclamation, 
and who would therefore bring to the 
study of these questions an outside and 
detached viewpoint. For these positions 
I recommend Dr. Alvin Johnson, assist- 
ant editor, Encyclopaedia of Social 
Science, New York; Prof. Frank Adams, 
of the University of California; and one 
other, to be selected later. These three 
would be paid at the rate of $25 a day, 
together with traveling expenses and $6 
per diem in lieu of subsistence. 

It is planned to hold a preliminary 
conference at Billings, Mont., of those 
who are to take part in the gathering of 
data in the field, at which I plan to be 
present and outline more definitely the 
scope and purpose of the survey. About 
August 1, the investigators and those 



who are to assist in the preparation of the 
report will meet in Denver. 

At this final conference, we can, if we 
desire, have the assistance of Dean 
Marston, of the School of Engineering, 
Iowa State College; Charles L. Lory, 
president of the Colorado Agricultural 
College; and J. W. Haw, director of agri- 
cultural development of the Northern 
Pacific Railway. President Lory and 
Mr. Haw are recognized authorities on 
reclamation economics in their States. 
Dean Marston is this year president of 
the Associated Agricultural Colleges and 
of the American Society of Civil Engi- 
neers. It is not believed that these men 
would expect any salaries, but provision 
should be made to pay their living and 
traveling expenses. 

An outline of the facts to be gathered 
is attached. The sum of $75,000 is 
available for economic investigations in 
1929 and 1930. It is believed that the 
cost of the survey proposed would not 
exceed $30,000. 

If approved, arrangements for this 
survey will begin in the near future. 
Respectfully, 

ELWOOD MEAD, 

Commissioner. 

Approved April 10, 1929. 
RAY LYMAN WILBUR, 

Secretary. 

OUTLINE OF ECONOMIC SURVEY OF PROJ- 
ECTS, 1929 

1. History: 

(a) When was the project first investi- 
gated by the Government, under what 
impetus was such examination made, and 
what assurances were given of settlement 
and early development of the district? 

(6) Were any agreements entered into 
before construction began providing for 
repayment of the cost of the work? If 
not, when? 

(c) How were the lands held Gov- 
ernment, State, or private ownership? 

(d) When did settlement of the lands 
begin and what prices and terms were 
asked for private lands? 

(e) When did irrigation begin and what 
were the charges for construction, for 
operation and maintenance? 

(/) What has been the record of pay- 
ments? 

(g) Have amendments to contract been 
sought? If so, on what grounds? 

(h) What amendments, if any, have 
been made, and what relief granted? 

2. Present economic and agricultural 
conditions of project: 



June. 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



83 



(a) How is land held now, and who con- 
stitutes the nonresident owners? 

(6) What is irrigable area of project? 

(c) What kind of crops are grown and 
value of each per acre? 

(d) What is ability of land to produce 
such crops under proper methods of 
culture? 

(e) What is character of cultivation and 
reasons therefor? 

3. Determine facts relating to resident 
farmers as follows: 

(a) Capability and experience. 

(6) First cost of farm, remaining in- 
debtedness, rate of interest, and terms of 
payment of balance. 

(c) Amount of other indebtedness and 
rate of interest charged? 

(d) Character and value of buildings, 
farm equipment, and other improvements. 

(e) Credit required to properly equip 
the farm. 

(/) Kind of farming now practiced and 
changes that should be made. 

4. What is most suitable size of holding 
for average farmer adequately financed? 

5. What prices are asked for raw land, 
payment down, terms, and interest rate? 

6. Is there a present demand for land? 
If so, what cooperation may be expected 
from present owners and local capital in 
the preparation of farms for occupancy? 

7. What capital is required to develop 
new land? 

(a) Cost of land. 

(&) Cost of leveling and ditching. 

(c) Cost of buildings, fences, and do- 
mestic water supply. 

(d) Cost of farm equipment. 

8. What sources of credit are available 
or could be made available for development 
of the district at what rate of interest? 

9. What is location and extent of mar- 
kets available to the district? 

10. What transportation facilities exist? 
Are they favorable for rapid development 
of the project? 

1 1 . What are the financial obligations of 
the district with reference to 

(a) Bonded indebtedness and other out- 
standing obligations of the district total 
and per acre? 

(6) Contracted obligations with the 
Government and annual payments re- 
quired? 

(c) Per acre and total cost of operation 
and maintenance? 

(d) Per acre assessment for State and 
county taxes? 

12. Concessions that must be made by 
creditors of district before conditions can 
become stabilized. 

The investigators of the projects to be 
studied have been assigned as follows: 

Northport division, North Platte proj- 
ect, Nebraska-Wyoming, and Riverton 
project, Wyoming, Dr. Alvin Johnson, of 
New York. 



Willwood division, Shoshone project, 
Wyoming, B. E. Hayden, reclamation 
economist. 

Lower Yellowstone project, Montana- 
North Dakota, L. H. Mitchell, superin- 
tendent of the Shoshone project. 

Sun River project, Montana, H. H. 
Johnson, superintendent of the Milk 
River project. 

Milk River project, Montana, and 
Bitter Root project, Montana, G. O. 
Sanford, superintendent of the Sun River 
project. 

Gem Irrigation District, Emmett Irri- 
gation District, and King Hill project, 
Idaho, W. W. Johnston, associate recla- 
mation economist and B. E. Stoutemyer, 
district counsel. 

Orchard Mesa Irrigation District, Grand 
Valley project, Colorado, and Shasta View 
Irrigation District, Klamath project, 



Oregon-California, Prof. Frank Adams, 
of the University of California. 

Owyhee project, Oregon-Idaho, A. C. 
Cooley, in charge of demonstration on re- 
clamation projects, and B. E. Stoutemyer. 

The investigators will also have the 
advice and assistance of representatives 
of the Federal land banks and of the 
agricultural colleges in the States in which 
the projects are located. 

George C. Kreutzer, director of recla- 
mation economics, will be in general charge 
of the investigation, and will visit all the 
projects in the course of the survey. 

All the investigators will have a pre- 
liminary meeting at Billings, Mont., on 
June 18 for a general discussion and to 
insure uniformity in the collection and 
compilation of data, leaving immediately 
after the meeting to take up their re- 
spective assignments. 



Reclamation and the Surplus 

Extract from a radio address on May 6, 1929, by R. J. Newell, Superintendent, Boise project, Idaho 



MANY of our friends in the East and 
the Mississippi Valley and, perhaps, 
ever closer at hand, believe that it might 
be better if Government reclamation 
should stop. They claim that bringing 
more land into cultivation can only in- 
crease surplusses of farm produce and 
add to agricultural depression. 

I don't believe it. A reclamation 
project as a unit is a consumer rather 
than a producer. For instance, the Boise 
project represents half the Boise Valley. 
Our good friend Joel Priest will bear me 
out that more freight is shipped into the 
Boise Valley than is shipped out. The 
more farms in Idaho, the more towns 
and industries. The more Idaho grows, 
the more men are needed in Detroit to 
keep us supplied with Fords and the more 
corn and pork and vegetables Iowa will 
have to raise to feed these men in Detroit 
and Pittsburgh and all the other centers 
where goods are manufactured and shipped 
to our arid States. 



Proceedings of Denver 
Conference Available 

The proceedings of the conference of 
reclamation officials, held in Denver, 
Colo., on March 13-15, 1929, have been 
mimeographed and distributed to the 
projects. A few copies are still available 
and may be obtained on request of the 
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Washington, D. C. 



The bulk of our produce doesn't go 
East to compete with Mississippi Valley. 
It goes West. And the very fact that 
the intermountain country is alive and 
growing and furnishing business to the 
railroads between their terminals makes 
it possible for these railroads to grant 
better through rates from the Mississippi 
Valley to the coast. It is to Iowa's 
advantage to see the Mountain States 
grow-. 

And it is to our local advantage to 
expand and irrigate more land. 

Nearly 50 years ago when irrigation 
in Boise Valley covered only a strip along 
the river bottom, the building of the first 
canal to the top of the first bench south 
of the river brought consternation to the 
older settlers around Star. "There won't 
be water enough and if there is, there 
will be so much hay we won't be able to 
sell it." There is 20 times as much land 
irrigated now and we are better off than 
we were then. The water doesn't get 
any shorter and hay is easier to sell. The 
towns grow faster than the farms. And 
marketing facilities keep pace with the 
need. I firmly believe that funds wisely 
spent under the reclamation law benefit 
both the reclamation States and the 
Nation. 



A CARLOAD of eggs was shipped re- 
cently from Sidney, Lower Yel- 
lowstone project, by the Mandan Cream- 
ery Co. This is notable as it is the first 
time a full carload of eggs has ever been 
shipped from the project. 



84 



NEW RECLAMATION EKA 



June, 1929 



The Relation of Maps and Surveys to the Boulder Dam Project 

By Dr. ElwooJ Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Presented before the Board of Surveys and Maps on April 9, 1929 



THE importance of maps in planning 
works to utilize the Colorado River 
has been enhanced by the fact that for 
the first time we are not building for to- 
day but laying the foundations of a civiliza- 
tion under which unnumbered generations 
will dwell. That is a new conception. It 
owes its development to the fact that all 
States interested in the Colorado realize 
that Boulder Dam Reservoir will regulate 
and enable the entire flow of the river to 
be used for power, domestic uses, and 
irrigation. Doing that would establish 
a perpetual right to continue those uses. 
If, therefore, there is no law limiting the 
rights created by these works, the upper 
States would either cease development or 
use water at the pleasure of the holders 
of the prior right below. That was not 
satisfactory to the upper States. Their 
mountains collect the snows that make 
the river. They have fertile valleys 
that can be irrigated. They need more 
farms and towns and to create them they 
must have an unquestioned right to use 
a part of the river's flow. 

To protect the upper States, representa- 
tives of the seven States met at Santa Fe, 
N. Mex., to frame a compact which would 
allocate the waters of the river. These 
representatives reached an agreement. 
They considered the future water needs of 
each State and sought to allocate to each 
State the water to meet those needs. 
This was done by dividing the drainage 
area into two sections, the dividing line 



in the river to be at Glenn's Ferry. 
Four States, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, 
and New Mexico, are in the upper section. 
Three, Nevada, Arizona, and California, 
are in the lower. The four upper States 
were given a right to 7,500,000 acre-feet, 
the three lower States were given 7,500,000 
acre-feet, and 1,000,000 acre-feet was left 
unallocated. 

To become a law it was agreed that this 
compact should be ratified by each of the 
seven States and by Congress. Six 
States have ratified. Arizona has not, 
but Congress in passing the Boulder Dam 
act declared that it would go into effect 
if six States ratified and that rights to 
water of the seven States should be as 
fixed in the compact. The act also makes 
a division of the water allocated to the 
three lower States. 

I have made this explanation to show 
why maps have an extraordinary im- 
portance in carrying out this legislation. 
California has been allocated 4,400,000 
acre-feet. Every locality where the water 
can be used wants a survey to show where 
and how it can be made available. 

Nevada is asking for surveys and plans. 
In Arizona a large area of public land has 
been withdrawn from settlement. Some 
of it has never been surveyed. Now it 
will be. The four upper States are talk- 
ing and thinking of how much of the 
7,500,000 acre-feet allocated to them col- 
lectively each will need and where it ought 
to be used. Only surveys will tell this, 




Irrigated sugar beets, Minidoka project, Idaho 



and surveys are being asked for. The 
legislature of Utah and, I believe, Colo- 
rado, have passed the following resolu- 
tions : 

To the SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT 
OF THE INTERIOR: 

Your memorialists, the Governor and 
Legislature of the State of Utah respect- 
fully represent that 

Whereas by the terms of the Colorado 
River compact 7,500,000 acre-feet of 
water annually are allocated to the State 
of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New 
Mexico in perpetuity for their beneficial 
consumptive use; and 

Whereas there will eventually be re- 
quired a subsidiary compact between the 
States of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and 
New Mexico to divide the 7,500,000 acre- 
feet among the said States; and 

Whereas such division can not be intel- 
ligently or equitably made until a survey 
is had to determine the number of acres in 
each of said States susceptible of reclama- 
tion by means of water from the Colorado 
River system, and classifying such lands 
as to their probable relative productivity, 
and making a soil survey if necessary; and 

Whereas the Boulder Canyon project 
act, approved December 21, 1928, con- 
templates an eventual, comprehensive 
development of the entire Colorado River 
Basin; and 

Whereas no comprehensive plan of 
development can be adopted until by 
means of a survey and classification of the 
reclaimable lands in each of the States of 
the Colorado River Basin, their poten- 
tialities have been accurately determined; 
and 

Whereas the unreclaimed land in the 
Colorado River Basin is nearly all the 
property of the United. States, over which 
the States have no control; 

Therefore your memorialists, the Gov- 
ernor and the Legislature of the State of 
Utah, respectfully request and urge that 
the Department of the Interior forthwith 
begin and as rapidly as possible prosecute 
to completion a complete survey and 
classification, making a soil survey if 
deemed necessary, of the agricultural lands 
situated in the Colorado River Basia in 
the States of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, 
and New Mexico. 

The governor is hereby directed to 
transmit a copy of this joint memorial to 
the Secretary of the Interior, to each 
Senator and Representative in Congress 
from this State, and to the Governors of 
the States of Wyoming, Colorado, and 
New Mexico, with a request that they and 
their legislature join in this petition. 

Meantime an active demand for maps 
has sprung up. Two thousand copies of 
a large colored map showing the reservoir 
sites and the irrigated and possible 
irrigable areas were printed by the Recla- 
mation Bureau. They are all distributed 
and another 2,000 are being printed. 



June, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



85 



Smaller maps in larger numbers have been 
distributed. 

A new aid to understanding the country 
is the aerial map. We have had one made 
of Boulder Canyon and find it helpful in 
scheming how to get in and out of the 
canyon where the dam is to be built. 

Among the requests coming in for 
definite and permanent allocations of 
water for uses not now in existence, that 
of the city of Denver best illustrates the 
need for long-time planning. The repre- 
sentatives of the water supply depart- 
ment of this city state that Denver has all 
the water it needs for its present popula- 
tion, and probably all it will need for the 
next 25 years, if it has only a gradual 
growth, but ultimately it is destined to 
be one of the largest cities of the Rocky 



Mountain region, and that means a city 
of half a million or more people. When 
that time comes it will be necessary to go 
over on the other side of the main range 
and tap the Colorado. Provision for 
doing this should be made now, so that 
when the time does come when the needs 
of Denver justify the long tunnel re- 
quired, the city will not be subjected to 
the additional expense of buying the 
rights acquired in the meantime. 

Throughout the whole basin of the 
Colorado there is an awakening to the 
fact that as population increases and 
civilization advances, the value of this 
water supply will grow and the struggle 
over its control will increase in like 
measure. Since the movement began to 
build a reservoir to protect the Imperial 



Valley from inundation, the growth of 
Southern California has brought to the 
people not alone of the cities but of the 
country a realizing sense that the time 
is not far distant when a further increase 
in farms, homes, and factories will 
depend on an increased water supply. 
That can come from but one source and 
that is the Colorado River. The enormous 
outlay which must be made to build an 
acqueduct nearly 300 miles long renders 
it imperative that it have the right 
dimensions and that this section of the 
country acquire an interest in the stored 
water adequate to meet future develop- 
ment. That means maps for the acque- 
duct line, maps to show the areas of 
land, the further extension of cities, 
topography, and differences in soils. 



The Colorado River: Explorations, Investigations, and Reports 


A Brief Chronology 



IN view of the widespread interest in the 
construction of Boulder Dam and the 
development of the Colorado River Basin, 
the following brief chronology of explora- 
tions and investigations of and reports on 
the Colorado River has been prepared for 
the information of readers of the NEW 
RECLAMATION ERA: 

1539. Francisco de Ulloa discovered 

mouth of Colorado. 

1540. Hernando de Alarcon sailed up the 

Colorado above the Gila. 
Melchior Diaz explored the Colo- 
rado. 

1 540- 1 542 . Coronado expeditions marched 
along rim of Grand Canyon. 

1542. Don Lopez de Cardenas discovered 
the Grand Canyon. 

1605. Juan de Onate went down the Colo- 
rado from Williams River to 
Gulf. 

1618. Zalvidor and Padre Jeminez visited 
Marble Canyon. 

1680-1711. Eusibio Francisco Kino made 
expeditions to Colorado. 

1721. Ugarte visited mouth of Colorado. 

1744. Jacobo Sedelmair visited the Gila 
and the Colorado at Wil- 
liams River. 

1771. Francisco Garces went down Gila 
to mouth of Colorado. 

1774. Francisco Garces with Captain 
Anza crossed Colorado to 
California. 

1775-76. Garces visited mouth of Colo- 
rado, the Mohave, and Little 
Colorado. 

1776. Escalante visited San Juan, Dolores, 

Green, Virgin, Marble Can- 
yon, and Lees Ferry. 

1777. Father Font crossed Colorado at 

Camp Mohave. 

1779-1781. Garces began to establish a 
settlement at Yuma. 



ByW.I. Sulanlon, Engineer, Washington Office 

1782. Don Pedro Foges made first trip 
from Colorado River to San 
Diego, Calif. 

1808. Andrew Henry visited Valley of 
Green River. 

1824. William H. Ashley established trap- 

pers on Green River. 

1825. Ashley made trip through Flaming 

Gorge to Browns Park. 
J. O. Pattie went down Gila and up 
Colorado. 

1826. Lieutenant Hardy went down Gila 

and up Colorado. 



Jedediah Smith went down Colo- 
rado from Virgin to Needles. 

Kit Carson visited Colorado River 
Basin. 

1827. Ewing Young trapped; visited Colo- 

rado River Basin. 
James P. Pattie visited Colorado 
River Basin. 

1828. Salton Sink flooded by Colorado 

River. 

1830. William Wolfskill visited Colorado 
River Basin. 




Beet sugar factory at South Torrington, Wyo., on the North Platte project, Nebraska- Wyoming 



86 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



June, 1929 



1831. J. T. Warner, Waldo and Young 

crossed Colorado at Yuma 
to San Diego, Calif. 

1832. Captain Bonneville visited Colo- 

rado River Basin. 

1839. Thomas J. Farnham visited Colo- 

rado River Basin. 

1840. Flood water from Colorado in Sal- 

ton Sink. 

1841. John Bidwell passed through Colo- 

rado River Basin, in first 
wagon train to San Fran- 
cisco, Calif. 

1842. Gen. John C. Freemont explored 

headwaters of Colorado 
River Basin. 

1846. General Kearney reached the Colo- 

rado as commander of Armv 
of West. 

1847. Mormons crossed the Colorado 

River Basin and settled in 
Salt Lake City. 

1849. Dr. O. M. Wozencraft journeyed 

across Salton Sink and 
planned irrigation Imperial 
Valley. 

Flood water from Colorado in Sal- 
ton Sink. 

1850. First steamboat to Yuma, Ariz. 
Lieut. George' H. Derby made 

reconnaissance of Gulf of 
California and Colorado 
River to Yuma. 

1850-1853. J. R. Bartlett, of boundary 
survey, made exploration of 
Colorado Desert. 

1851. Fort Yuma established and steam- 

boat line. 

George A. Johnson visited mouth 
of Colorado in schooner. 

1852. Lorenzo Sitgreaves explored Zuni 

and Little Colorado. 
Flood water from Colorado in Salton 

Sink. 

1854. Lieutenant Whipple surveyed rail- 
road on thirty-fifth parallel. 
1855-1860. Railroad surveys made. 
1857. E. F. Beale made wagon road survey 

on thirty-fifth parallel, using 

camels. 
Capt. George Johnson went above 

Vegas, Wash., in steamer. 
1857-58. Lieut. J. C. Ives navigated in 

steamer to Vegas, Wash. 



1858. Stage line through Yuma estab- 

lished. 

1859. Flood waters, Colorado in Salton 

Sink. 

Capt. J. N. Macomb and Dr. J. S. 
Newberry explored Grand 
and Green Rivers. 

1861. Berthoud and Bridger explored road, 

Denver to Salt Lake. 

1862. Flood waters, Colorado in Salton 

Sink. 

1864. Capt. Samuel Adams explored El 
Dorado Canyon. 

1866. Captain Rogers steamed up Colo- 

rado to Callville. 

1867. James White reported to have gone 

through Grand Canyon on 
raft. 

Flood waters, Colorado in Salton 
Sink. 

1868-69. Maj. John Wesley Powell ex- 
plored Grand Canyon. 

1869. Lieut. George M. Wheeler made re- 
connaissance of Grand Can- 
yon. 
Gold spike on first transcontinental 

road driven. 

Maj. J. W. Powell made first trip to 
Virgin River. 

1871-72. Major Powell made second trip 
through Grand Canyon. 

1876. Lieut. Eric Bergland surveyed Grand 

Canyon to Needles. 

1877. Railroad completed through Yuma 

to Maricopa Wells. 

1879. Lieut. Col. C. S. Stewart and Lieu- 
tenant Payson explored river. 

1883. Railroad crossed Colorado at Nee- 
dles. 

Railroad crossed Green in Gunnison 
Valley. 

1889-90. R. B. Stantpn and F. M. Brown 
made railroad surveys, Grand 
Canyon. 

1891-1893. C. R. Rockwood surveyed Iir- 
perial Valley. 

1891-1896. Mexican Boundary Commis- 
sion made map of Colorado 
River. 

1894. Lieut. C. L. Potter navigated river, 
Diamond Creek to Virgin. 

1895-96. Messrs. Gallaway, Stone, and 
Richmond went through 
Grand Canvon. 




Main canal, Boise project, Idaho 



1896. George F. Flavell descended Green 
River to Yuma. 

Charles E. L. B. Davis made pre- 
liminary survey of river. 

California Development Co. organ- 
ized. 

1900. George Chaffey made contract for 

Imperial Valley Canal. 

1901. Water flowing into Imperial Valley 

by canal. 

1901-2. J. B. Lippincott made reconnais- 
sance, Needles to Yuma. 

1902. Imperial Valley irrigation begun. 
1902-3. J. B. Lippincott, E. T. Perkins, 

E. C. Barnard, and R. B. 
Marshall continued investi- 
gation. 

1904. Yuma project construction ap- 
proved. 

W. W. Schlecht made survey of 
Green River Basin to Ouray, 
Utah. 

1905-6. Break in levees to Imperial Val- 
ley, February, 1905-Novem- 
ber, 1906. 

1906-7. Break to Imperial Valley, Decem- 
ber, 1906-February, 1907. 

1907-8. Messrs. Charles Russell, E. R. 
Monett, and Albert Loper 
descended river in boats from 
Green River to below Grand 
Canyon. 

1909. Flood to Volcano Lake and Ocker- 
son Levee built. 

1909. J. F. Stone and N. Galloway de- 
scended river from Green, 
Wyo., through the canyons. 

1911. Flood broke through Ockerson 
Levee. 

1911-12. Kolb brothers descended river, 
Green River, Wyo., to Nee- 
dles. 

1916. Flood at Yuma, Ariz. 

Wyoming cooperative report on 

Green River. 

Imperial Valley irrigation system 
sold at auction to railroad 
company. 

1919. Ail-American Canal report issued. 

1920. Congress authorized investigation 

Colorado River. 

1921. Wiley, Munn, Savage and Young 

reported on Boulder Dam. 

Southern Colorado Edson Co. sur- 
vey canyons down to Lees 
Ferry. 

Preliminary report on "Problems 
of Imperial Valley" issued. 

1922. Utah P. & L. Co. and United States 

Geological Survey surveyed 
canyons to Marble Canyon. 

Report on problems of Imperial 
Valley issued as S. Doc. 142. 

November 24, Colorado River com- 
pact executed at Santa Fe, 
N. Mex. 

1923. C. H. Birdseye and United States 

Geological Survey party sur- 
vey canyons. 

1924. Weymouth report in eight manu- 

script volumes issued. 
Cosby report in Colorado River 

issued. 
E. C. La Rue and party, surveys. 

1927. Special advisers made report to 

Secretary of the Interior. 

Conference of governors on Colo- 
rado River. 

Colorado River Board made report 
to Secretary of Interior. 

1928. December 21, Boulder Canyon act 

approved by President. 



June, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



87 



Land Clearing in the Upper Kittitas District, Yafyma Project 

Agricultural development agent of Northern Pacific Railway proves High Line district 
can be cleared at price much below prevailing estimates 



AS A result of promises made to the 
Bureau of Reclamation on behalf of 
the High Line district and demonstrations 
conducted by the county agent, E. F. 
Benson has started clearing on his holdings 
at Peoh Point. Being unable to contract 
the slashing, Mr. Benson hired eight men 
by the day, and is finding his costs much 
lower than estimates based on past expe- 
rience in this section. As a result of his 
success, Mr. Benson now plans to slash 
100 to 125 acres instead of 20 or 30 
acres as originally planned. The following 
letter which he has written to Mr. W. 
O. Passmore, county agent, Ellensburg, 
Wash., will be of interest to all concerned 
in the High Line development: 

"I have had eight good woodsmen 
slashing on my land at Benson Spur 
during the past 10 days at $3.50 per day. 
The results are so surprising to me, I am 
sure you will be interested. Many men 
could be secured for $3 a day, but these 
skilled woodsmen get $6.50 to $8 a day as 
timbermen during the logging season. 
Being out of work now they were anxious 
to work for $3.50, and I am glad to pay 
the 50 cents extra a day (eight hours of 
actual work). 

"I had only expected to slash 20 or 30 
acres, but am going to slash 80 or 100 
acres more and burn it next fall. 

"Forty acres are now slashed at a cost 
to me of less than $5 an acre. Two 
months ago I contracted 3 or 4 acres on 
a point projecting into the cleared field 
at $25 an acre. I thought $20 was 
enough, but had to give $25. As the 
man hadn't started in two months, I 
canceled his contract, and four men did 
the job in half a day, thus costing me by 
the day $14 total, instead of $75 or more. 
Another tract of about 15 acres was so 
thick I told my foreman we would con- 
tract that at $25 an acre. It was not 
quite as thick as Curtis photo 54503, but 
was fairly comparable to the brush in 
his photos 54510, 54511, 54515, and 54516. 
The crew made such good progress that j 
this brush was slashed by the day and is 
included in the 40 acres above, about 
half of which had a more scattered 
growth. 

"In a rich little flat subirrigated from 
a spring branch, was about 1 acre of very 
dense willows, quackenasp, briars, etc., 
too dense for anything to go through. 
For the past 15 years I have tried to hire 
at least a dozen different persons to slash 
this for $30 or $40. Two different crews 



(From the Cle Elum Miner-Echo) 



New Map A callable 

A map of the Vale irrigation proj- 
ect, Oregon, has just been issued by 
the Washington office, on which four 
plates have been used to show irriga- 
tion districts, canals, drains, power 
transmission lines, railroads, high- 
ways, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, 
siphons, etc. This map appears in 
two sizes, No. 23330 10% by 15% 
inches, sold at 10 cents per copy, 
and No. 23330-A, 22 by 33 inches, 
sold at 25 cents per copy. 

For copies, address Commissioner, 
Bureau of Reclamation, Washing- 
ton, D. C., inclosing check or money 
order. 



of these 8 men were offered $50 for this 
job, but refused to tackle it, so we went 
at it by the day and it cost me just $15. 
You can imagine the regrets of these 
men who lost that $35 of easy money. 

"If these men have time before the 
regular work begins in the timber, I am 
going to slash 60 or 80 acres more. We 
have only cut the pine and fir and willows, 
and not piled it yet. I expect to get 
enough cord wood to pay for slashing the 



sarvis and black thorn and piling all the 
brush for burning next September. 

"I may blast out some stumps where 
scattering and plow the sarvis brush, thus 
putting 20 or 30 acres of new land in 
crop this spring, but the remaining 80 or 
100 acres I will seed to pasture grass this 
fall if the canal brings us water by 
August, for which we are earnestly hoping. 

"From your demonstration I am sure 
that those small pines will be so rotted in 
3 or 4 years that their removal will be 
very little expense. Meantime, the pas- 
ture grasses and grazing of stock will 
have added greatly to the soil fertility 
and texture. 

"I understand the cost of clearing the 
canal right of way for the plow ranged 
from $150 to $200 an acre. This method 
should not cost in money more than one- 
third or one-fourth those amounts, pro- 
vided the pasture pays carrying charges 
while the stumps decay. 

"Knowing your interest in all such 
experiences and hoping this may stim- 
ulate other landowners to do likewise, 
while No. 1 men are available and anxious 
to do such work during their off season at 
a wage that makes clearing not only 
feasible, but very attractive, I will be 
glad to keep you advised of our future 
progress." 




Construction progress at Easton diversion dam, Kittitas division, Yakima project, Wash., looking toward 
north abutment, showing concrete placed in spillway section 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



June, 1929 




Reclamation Project Women and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Community Club Houses and Club Activities 



UNCOMPAHGRE PROJECT. COLORADO 

THREE towns are on the project, 
Montrose with a population of 3,850, 
Delta with 2,800, and Olathe with 
750. It has 6 banks, 27 schools, and 
27 churches. 

Six photographs of structures on the 
project, and information relative' thereto, 
have been sent in .as evidence 'Of civic 
pride and combined effort for 'the estab- 
lishment of an attractive social life. 

No. 1 shows the Hall of Friendship, 
which is located on the Montrose County 
Fair Grounds, which grounds are adjacent 
to the town of Montrose and are used for 
fair purposes during September of each 
year in connection with the Western Slope 
County Fair. This fair has been ah annual 
institution of this county for nearly 40 
years. The hall was built in 1926 by the 
Federated Women's Clubs of the county 
and is used for vegetable, fruit, school, 
and fancy work exhibits at the annual 
Western Slope Fair. 

No. 2 shows the Pea Green Community 
House, which was completed in April, 
1927, and is located on the western edge 
of California Mesa, approximately 8 miles 
from the towns of Olathe and Delta. Prac- 
tically all of the labor involved in the 
building of the community house and all 
of the material was donated by residents 
of the Pea Green community. This com- 
munity obtained its name from the color 
of the paint used on the Pea Green school- 
house. 

All of the public activities of the com- 
munity are handled in the new community 
house under the general supervision of the 
community club and this building is used 
on an average of three times a week. It 
has served a very useful purpose and local 
residents do not know how they formerly 
got along without such a building. 

No. 3 shows the Fairview Community 
.House and playground for children. This 
house was built in 1924 by 14 residents 
of the community wjio clubbed together 
and donated $100 each for its construction. 
This house is used for social and com- 
munity purposes in an Italian settlement 
and is considered to be a well worth-while 
investment. It is located between 3 and 
4 miles from the town of Montrose. 

No. 4 shows the development had in 
the Oak Grove settlement about 4 miles 
west of the town of Montrose. The old 
schoolhouse is shown at the left and the 
new building which was built about 1912 



is shown at the right. The old building 
is now used for social and other purposes 
in the community and also for church use. 

No. 5 shows the Menoken school build- 
ing, which is typical of the type of schools 
now built in settled sections of the project. 
Sections of the project that do not have 
separate club buildings for community 
purposes generally use the schoolhouses 
of the district for those purposes and the 
Menoken School building is typical in 
size and appearance of the buildings of 
other school districts on the project. In 
such districts many of the activities 
operate under the leadership of parent- 
teacher associations but in the Pea Green 
and Stone school districts the community 
has organized clubs for social and district 
purposes. 

The Menoken school building is located 
about 5 miles northwest of the town of 
Montrose. 

No. 6 shows the Riverside school build- 
ing, located about 5 miles south of the 
town of Montrose. The upper story of 
this building is used for all community 
activities under the general supervision 
of the parent-teachers association. 

GRAND VALLEY PROJECT, COLORADO 

This project has six towns Grand 
Junction, the largest, with a population 
of 12,724; Fruita and Palisade, with 1,000 
each; Clifton, 200; Mack, 75; and Loma, 
40. It has 34 churches. 

Mrs. W. A. Miller of Clifton, Colo., 
describes with pride, love of home, and 
faith in the future, the building up of an 
effective club spirit on the East Orchard 
Mesa of this project. 

Building A Community 
House 

Dr. Elwood Mead, in his report of the 
Reclamation Survey, 1924, showed us 
what was wrong with East Orchard Mesa, 
and also suggested a remedy. He said: 
"Where there is an active social .life, 
happy homes are found, atid settlers 
seldom move away." 

Heretofore many of our landowners 
had been with us only during the brief 
period of seedtime to harvest. 

Some of our public-spirited women, 
determined to test Doctor Mead's sug- 
gestion, and as a first step organized a 
women's club, November 25, 1925, its 



object to be not only to encourage all- 
year residence of homesteaders, but also 
to develop and advertise a community 
wherein might be formed an attractive 
environment which would appeal to 
prospective purchasers. 

Our main inducements thus far are 5,000 
acres of excellent land and an abundance 
of water for irrigation and domestic pur- 
poses. Our club proved highly success- 
ful, enthusiasm spread, and led logically 
to the organization of a community club, 
whose officers are all men, a strange but 
helpful coincidence. 

Within two years these clubs, working 
together, had brought to our formerly 
isolated community a telephone line, 
rural mail service, and inclosed school 
busses. Our roads had been wonderfully 
improved, and much attention had been 
given to beautifying home surroundings. 

The community club held its first 
meetings in a packing house. At the 
beginning of our second year we had 90 
members, including some landowners in 
adjoining sections, and others living in 
the town of Palisade. 

Our club had outgrown the packing 
house and no other public building within 
12 miles could accommodate our growing 
membership. 

We resolved to build a community 
house, not one just sufficient for present 
needs, but one looking to the future and 
increasing population, of which we now 
felt assured. We bought our building 
lot and an acre of land, centrally located, 
for which we paid $125 out of the pro- 
ceeds of fruit and vegetable sales in 
near-by towns. 

The plans for our house, 30 by 60 feet, 
called for a $5,000 building of which 
$2,500 was required for materials, and a 
like amount for labor and furniture. 
Our women's club guaranteed the full 
cement basement. Then the fun and 
work began in earnest. Men and teams 
by the score did the excavating, and 
hauled gravel, sand, and lumber. 
Women, old and young, raised money by 
frequent fruit, vegetable, and cooked 
food sales and chicken dinners in neigh- 
boring towns, which gave encouraging pat- 
ronage. On days when the men worked 
our women always served hot dinners. 
These days proved fine opportunities in 
promoting acquaintance and sociability. 

Labor to the value of $2,000 was done 
by our landowners. One man only 



June, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



89 



COLORADO 
PROJECT 



COMMUNITY 
HOUSES 




Uncompahgre project: 1. Hall of Friendship. 2. Pea Green Community House. 3. Fairview Community House. 4. Oak Grove Community Center. 5. Mencken 

School. 6. Riverside School. 7. Grand Valley project's only community house 



90 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



June, 1929 



received wages, a carpenter, hired to 
supervise construction. 

The building was begun in the spring 
of 1927. It was dedicated on October 10. 
Seats and tables had all been made by the 
men. The women's club, in addition to 
a donation of $800 in cash, had equipped 
the building with an acetylene lighting 
plant, a fine piano, a kitchen range, and 
dishes to serve 150 people. 

During the past two years more than 
1,000 people have enjoyed our hospitality 
as guests or as patrons at banquets and 
other entertainments. These include the 
Lions Club and the Business and Pro- 
fessional Woman's Club, of Grand Junc- 
tion. The Mesa County Woman's Ex- 
tension Club held an all-day meeting, at 
which Helen Field Fisher was the guest 
of honor. In her radio talk, broadcast 



over KFNF, Shenandoah, Iowa, Mrs. 
Fisher complimented our work very 
highly, describing our unique 4-in-l baby 
bed, and mentioning particularly the 
beautiful flowers which she saw blooming 
in our yards in mid-November. 

Our community house is open to the 
public on all occasions except dances. 
Such entertainments are strictly by invi- 
tation, assuring reputable guests. Pro- 
grams at Christmas time and on other 
holidays provide a training school in self- 
expression for our children. Formerly 
they were taken to entertainments as 
spectators, now they are participants. 
The fact that our community has taken 
first prize for two years in the county- 
improvement contest is evidence that a 
spirit of cooperation and neighborliness 
has been created by our activities. Our 



programs for several years will include the 
better-homes movement, as sponsored by 
the national board in Washington. 

We are answering many inquiries from 
near and distant communities as to the 
secret of our success, and we are glad to 
aid wherever possible. We have many 
visitors, some traveling long distances to 
investigate our methods. 

Our natural resources of soil, water, 
and climate, of course, furnish the neces- 
sary foundation, but it is largely our social 
community spirit which is drawing and 
holding settlers. Twenty-eight new houses 
were built last year. 

Doctor Mead is right. We recommend 
his suggestion to other communities, 
"Where there is an active social life, 
happy homes are found," and settlers 
seldom move away. 



Power Development on Government Reclamation Projects 



THIS is an age of power-operated con- 
struction equipment, and the cost of 
power is no small item in the total cost of 
construction of present-day irrigation proj- 
ects, especially where the construction of 
large dams, canals, tunnels, etc., is in- 
volved. It frequently happens, where 
conditions permit, that a substantial sav- 
ing can be effected in the initial cost of a 
project by building a power plant for the 
purpose of furnishing a reliable supply of 
cheap power for construction purposes. 
The Boise River, Lahontan, Lingle, Pilot 
Butte, Roosevelt, Shoshone, and Spanish 
Fork hydroelectric power plants were all 
built primarily to furnish power for use in 
connection with the construction of the 
projects on which they are located. 

Under certain conditions water can be 
delivered to lands more economically by 
means of pumps than by gravity, or pump- 
ing may be necessary for drainage pur- 
poses and the cost of power is an impor- 
tant factor in connection with any pump- 
ing development. Several of the larger 
power developments undertaken by this 
bureau have been built primarily for the 
purpose of providing cheap power for the 
operation of pumps. The Minidoka 
power plant, which supplies power for the 
South Side pumping division of the Mini- 
doka project, the Black Canyon power 
plant on the Boise project, which supplies 
power to the Gem Irrigation District, and 
the Siphon Drop power plant on the Yuma 
project were all built to furnish cheap 
power for pumping purposes. Before the 
Black Canyon power plant was built, the 



Present practice and proposed new policies 

By L. N. McClellan, electrical engineer, Denver office 

Gem irrigation district had been purchas- 
ing power from the local power company, 
but the cost of power together with the 
other costs of operation and maintenance, 
were more than the district could meet, 
and if cheaper power had not been ob- 
tained much of the land in the district 
would, no doubt, have reverted to a desert 
condition. Power from the Black Can- 
yon power plant has reduced the district's 
cost of operation approximately $40,000 
per year, with the result that the district 
is now promptly paying the Government 
for power, and at the same time is carry- 
ing on an extensive program of drainage 
construction. 

SIPHON DROP REDUCES COST 

The Siphon Drop power plant on the 
Yuma project demonstrates what can be 
accomplished by a small power develop- 
ment operating under favorable condi- 
tions. This plant was completed in July, 
1926, and develops about 1,000 kilowatts 
under the head of 10 feet which is now 
available. Previous to its construction, 
the Yuma and Yuma auxiliary projects 
had been purchasing power for pumping 
purposes at an average cost of about 2.8 
cents per kilowatt hour, whereas power for 
project purposes is now obtained from the 
Siphon Drop plant at an average cost of 
less than 0.8 cent per kilowatt hour. Dur- 
ing the calendar year 1928 this plant saved 
the Yuma and Yuma auxiliary projects 
some $37,000 in cost of power and in addi- 
tion produced a gross revenue of $47,000 



from sale of surplus power. The cost of 
operation, maintenance, and depreciation 
amounted to $30,000 and the net benefit 
resulting from the operation of this plant 
amounted to about $54,000. These re- 
sults are due, in large measure, to a favor- 
able contract with the Southern Sierras 
Power Co., under which all energy not 
required by the project is sold to the 
company and the power plant therefore 
operates at an exceptionally high-load 
factor. 

A combination power and irrigation 
development may be economically feasi- 
ble, where neither the power nor the irri- 
gation development alone would be justi- 
fied. The Guernsey Reservoir and power 
development on the North Platte project 
is typical of such a combination. The 
Guernsey Reservoir cost approximately 
$23 per acre-foot of storage capacity, 
which was higher than could be justified 
on the basis of storage for irrigation alone, 
but by charging a part of the cost of the 
dam to power development, the cost of the 
storage was reduced to a point where the 
combination power and storage develop- 
ment became feasible. In a small way 
the Guernsey development is similar to the 
proposed storage and power development 
at Boulder Canyon, on the Colorado River 
in that power revenues are to repay the 
cost of construction. 

SALT RIVER PROJECT POWER 
DEVELOPMENT 

The Salt River project affords an out- 
standing example of a well coordinated 



June, 1929 



NEW KECLAMATION ERA 



91 



combination of irrigation and power de- 
velopment. The Bureau of Reclamation 
originally built four hydroelectric plants 
on this project with a total capacity of 
18,000 kilowatts. The project was turned 
over to the Salt River Valley Water 
Users' Association to operate in Novem- 
ber, 1917, and since then the association 
has built three additional plants, and a 
fourth is now under construction. When 
this latter plant is completed the total 
capacity of the power system will exceed 
80,000 kv.-a. The principal plants are 
located on the Salt River below the 
Roosevelt Dam and above two smaller 
storage reservoirs at Mormon Flat and 
Stewart Mountain which serve to reregu- 
late the water to suit the irrigation re- 
quirements after it has passed the power 
plants. This combination of storage and 
power development permits power to be 
generated continuously throughout the 
year without waste of irrigation water. 
In a year of low water supply, the Salt 
River project power system will produce a 
gross revenue of about $1,500,000 and in 
years of normal water supply, the gross 
revenue will exceed $2,500,000. 

SALE OF SURPLUS POWER 

Frequently the project requirements 
for power for construction and pumping 
purposes utilize only a part of the capacity 
of a power plant and considerable surplus 
power is available for sale. For instance, 
on the Minidoka project, the power plant 
has a capacity of 10,000 kilowatts, of 
which 8,000 kilowatts is required during 
the irrigation season for operation of 
pumps, leaving 2,000 kilowatts of firm 
all-year-round power which is sold to the 
project towns and various mutual com- 
panies serving the rural districts for com- 
mercial lighting and power purposes. 
During the nonirrigation season, when 
power is not being used for pumping, 
some 3,500 kilowatts is sold for heating 
purposes. 

Operation of the Lingle power plant on 
the North Platte project was started in 
the spring of 1919 to furnish power for 
construction of canals and drainage ditches 
on the Fort Laramie division, and shortly 
thereafter surplus power was sold to some 
of the project towns. As the construction 
work proceeded, the transmission lines 
were extended down the valley, and addi- 
tional towns contracted for power and in 
in this way the commercial load developed 
to such an extent that it became neces- 
sary to increase the capacity of the Lingle 
power plant from the original 750 kv.-a. 
to 1,750 kv.-a. in 1924. The first unit 
of the Guernsey power plant was placed 
in service in July, 1927, and the second 
unit was placed in service in January, 
1928, and by the end of that year the load 
had increased to over 6,000 kilowatts. In 



less than a year after the completion of the 
Guernsey power plant, the load had devel- 
oped to such an extent that both the Lingle 
and Guernsey power plants were loaded 
to capacity, due largely to the disposal of 
power, at wholesale, to two public utility 
companies operating in that territory 
which transferred part of their load from 
steam plants to the Government hydro 
plants. The gross revenue from sale of 
power on the North Platte project in 1928 
amounted to $230,000, and the cost of 
operation, maintenance, and depreciation 
was $100,000, leaving a net profit of 
$130,000. 

During the past year there has been a 
large increase in the commercial load on 
the Shoshone project due to drilling and 
pumping operations in the Oregon Basin 
and Frannie oil fields and to the extension 
of the Mountain States Power Co.'s trans- 
mission lines up the Big Horn Valley as 
far as the town of Worland, Wyo. It ap- 
pears that the present installation in the 
Shoshone power plant will soon be loaded 
to capacity and negotiations are in prog- 
ress for the installation of a third unit in 
this plant which it is proposed to finance 
with funds advanced by the power com- 
pany which will be rebated out of monthly 
power bills. Revenues from commercial 
power on the Shoshone project in 1928 
amounted to about $45,000. 

Construction work on the Riverton 
project will require considerable power 
for several years; and in order to provide 
an adequate supply for this purpose and 
to take care of the increasing commercial 
load, a second 1,000 kv.-a. generating unit 
is now being installed in the Pilot Butte 
power plant. A gross revenue of $12,500 
resulted from the sale of surplus power on 
the Riverton project during 1928. 

DEVELOPMENT OF SEASONAL POWER 

Opportunities for the development of 
considerable seasonal power exist on 
many of the projects at the large dams 
built to store water and at drops in the 
canals; but as this power is available only 
during the irrigation season with little or 
no power during the rest of the year, such 
power developments are unattractive 
except under very special conditions. 
This is the situation at the Arrowrock, 
Pathfinder, and Elephant Butte dams 
Where seasonal power is utilized by a 
power system serving the usual commercial 
load, other sources of power, such as steam 
stand-by plants, must be provided of 
sufficient capacity to supply the demand 
for power during the period when the 
seasonal power is not available. The 
result is that the use of seasonal power 
when available simply saves fuel in the 
stand-by plant. The fuel cost of produc- 
ing energy in present-day steam generat- 
ing stations, designed for stand-by service, 



may range anywhere from 0.4 to 0.75 
cent per kilowatt-hour and conditions- 
must be very favorable for hydroelectric 
power development if seasonal power can 
be delivered at such figures. Seasonal 
power is sometimes developed to supply- 
power for irrigation pumping in which 
case the power requirement of the pump- 
ing plant occurs at the same time that 
the seasonal power is available. It is pro- 
posed to develop some 30,000 kilowatts of 
seasonal power at the American Falls 
Dam which will be used to operate pump- 
ing plants in connection with the North 
Side extension of the Minidoka project 
when this division is constructed. 

FACTORS OF FEASIBILITY 

The feasibility of a hydroelectric power 
development depends upon a large num- 
ber of factors, some of the more important 
of which are: 

(a) The quantity of water and head 1 
available, as these factors determine the 
amount of primary and secondary power 
that can be produced. The former must 
be supplied continuously whereas second- 
ary power is only available during certain 
periods of each year and the price obtained 
for it is necessarily considerably less than 
for the primary power. 

(b) Cost of construction: Other factors 
remaining the same, the cost of a power 
plant will vary inversely, although not in 
the same ratio, as the head and as a 
general rule other things being equal, the- 
larger the power development the smaller 
the cost per unit of capacity. The cost 
of construction is especially important 
because it determines the fixed charges- 
which invariably are a large part of the 
total cost of producing hydroelectric- 
power. 

(c) Cost of operation and maintenance.. 

(d) Market for power. 

(e) Distance that power must be 
transmitted to reach a market: A large 
block of power of the order of 100,000 
kilowatts or more may be transmitted 
economically at 220,000 volts a distance 
of 300 or more miles but the distance that 
smaller blocks of power can be trans- 
mitted at lower voltages will be much less. 

(/) Load factor: This is the ratio of 
average power to maximum power. The- 
annual cost of an hydroelectric power de- 
velopment is practically independent of 
the amount of energy produced and there- 
fore the unit cost of energy varies inverse- 
ly as the load factor. For instance, a 
given water power plant operating at 100 1 
per cent load factor may be able to pro- 
duce energy at a cost of say 2 mills per 
kilowatt-hour but the same plant oper- 
ating at a load factor of only 50 per cent, 
would produce only half as much energy 
and the unit cost would be twice as much 
or 4 mills per kilowatt-hour and at 25 



92 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



June, 1929 



per cent load factor the unit cost would 
be 8 mills per kilowatt-hour. 

(</) Competitive power: The delivered 
cost of hydroelectric energy must be less 
than the cost of production by any other 
means such as steam or Diesel engine 
plants located at the load center. 

RURAL USE OF POWER 

Rural electrification is making rapid 
progress on several projects. For in- 
stance, on the Xewlands project a number 
of local improvement districts have been 
organi/ed for the purpose of financing the 
construction of rural distribution lines, 
which, when completed, will serve practi- 
cally the entire settled portion of the 
project; 300 rural customers were served 
in 1928 and the service will be extended 
in 1929 to include some 560 farms. A 
rural distribution system is being con- 
structed on the Salt River project which 
will serve about 4,500 farm homes; 600 
miles of line are involved and recently a 
single order was placed for 8,000 steel 
poles to be used in this construction. 
These rural lines on the Salt River project 
are being financed by the Salt River 
Valley Water Users' Association by means 
of a bond issue. On the Minidoka 
project a number of mutual companies 
have been serving the rural communities 
for several years. These companies pur- 
chase power at wholesale from the Gov- 
ernment and build and operate their own 
distribution lines. This general plan is 
also being used on the Shoshone and 
North Platte projects. 

The law authorizing the Secretary of 
the Interior to dispose of power developed 
in connection with Federal irrigation 
projects requires that preference be given 
to municipalities. It also limits the 
period of power contracts to 10 years on 
all except the Salt River and Rio Grande 



projects, where the period of such con- 
tracts is limited to 50 years. The policy 
of the department is to dispose of surplus 
power in large blocks, preferably at the 
generating station. Retailing and dis- 
tribution of power to individual customers 
is avoided as far as possible. Rates in 
general must produce sufficient revenue 
to provide for a fair return on the invest- 
ment in addition to the cost of operation, 
maintenance, and depreciation. The rate 
schedule must be so designed as to dis- 
tribute the total cost of service fairly and 
equitably among the various classes of 
customers and rates for the larger power 
customers must be low enough to com- 
pete successfully with the cost of power 
from other sources. Discriminatory rates 
must be avoided. Quite naturally the 
rates for sale of power are different on the 
various projects depending upon the cost 
of the power system, the operation and 
maintenance cost, the amount of power 
utilized, and the load factor. 

APPLICATION OF PROFITS 

Profits from power operations have in 
the past been applied as provided in sub- 
section I of section 4 of the act of Decem- 
ber 5, 1924, which provides as follows: 

That whenever the water users take 
over the care, operation, and maintenance 
of a project or a division of a project, the 
total accumulated net profits * * 
derived from the operation of project 
power plants * * * shall be credited 
to the construction charge of the project, 
or a division thereof, and thereafter the 
net profits from such sources may be used 
by the water users to be credited annually, 
first, on account of project construction 
charge; second, on account of project oper- 
ation and maintenance charge; and third, 
as the water users may direct. 

Such application of the net power prof- 
its results in giving the water users on 
projects having power developments an 



annual profit. This procedure was modi- 
fied in the case of the North Platte 
project by the act of March 3, 1925, 
which provides: 

That all net revenues from any power 
plant connected with this project shall be 
applied to the repayment of the con- 
struction costs incurred by the Govern- 
ment on this project until such obliga- 
tions are fully repaid. 

The appropriation bill for fiscal year 
1930 makes special provisions as to appli- 
cation of net power revenues from the 
Black Canyon and Shoshone power 
plants. In the case of the Black Canyon 
plant: 

The net power revenues are to be ap- 
plied to the repayment of construction 
costs, first, of the Deadwood Reservoir; 
second, of the Black Canyon power plant 
and power system; and third, of one- 
half the cost of the Black Canyon Dam, 
until the United States shall have been 
reimbursed for all expenditures made 
incident thereto. Thereafter all net reve- 
nues shall be covered into the reclamation 
fund unless and until otherwise directed 
by Congress. 

In the case of the Shoshone project, the 
1930 appropriation bill provides that: 

The net power revenues are to be ap- 
plied first, to the repayment of the con- 
struction cost of the power system; 
second, to the repayment of the construc- 
tion cost of the Shoshone Dam; and third, 
thereafter such net revenues shall be cov- 
ered into the reclamation fund. 

The result of this new policy will be, 
that, instead of giving the net profits 
from power on any project, having a power 
development, to .the water users, on that 
particular project to help them pay their 
annual construction and operation and 
maintenance charges, the net profits will 
be used to hasten the return to the recla- 
mation fund of the money spent by the 
Government for construction, and will 
afford a means of liquidating losses which 
are now charged to the reclamation fund. 




Holstein dairy herd in pasture, Salt River project, Ariz. 



June. 1829 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



93 



Evaporation on Federal Reclamation Projects 



By lean E. Houk, Research Engineer, Dencer Office 




m 



Floating pan evaporation station at East Park Reservoir, Orland project, Calif. 



EVAPORATION from reservoir sur- 
faces on Federal irrigation projects 
causes the loss of approximately 1,000,000 
acre-feet of water each year, a quantity 
sufficient to irrigate an area of 250,000 
acres. Such losses are unavoidable inas- 
much as there is no practicable way of 
controlling the evaporation process on lake 
or reservoir surfaces of appreciable size. 
However, the amount of the losses must 
be determined so that accurate allowances 
can be made in determining the quantities 
of water available for irrigation use. 

The rate at which water evaporates 
from lake and reservoir surfaces varies 
with local meteorological conditions. Con- 
sequently the depth of water evaporated 
annually from inland bodies of water 
varies widely in different sections of the 
country. Several formulas have been pro- 
posed for computing depths of evapora- 
tion, factors being introduced to allow for 
changes in temperature, wind velocity, 
relative humidity, and barometric pres- 
sure. The theory proposed by Dalton 
more than a hundred years ago, namely, 
that the evaporation rate varies with the 
difference between the vapor pressure cor- 
responding to the temperature of the 
water surface and the actual vapor pres- 
sure in the air above, has been found most 
applicable of all. However, no formula 
thus far proposed has been found univer- 
sally dependable. Therefore, estimates 
of evaporation losses for use in designing 
irrigation systems must still be based on 
measurements of water evaporated from 
small pans, preferably pans floated on ex- 
isting lakes in the immediate vicinity of 
the proposed improvements. 



The Bureau of Reclamation has been 
collecting and studying evaporation data 
for many years. Floating or land pans, 
sometimes both, have been maintained on 
projects where large storage reservoirs 
are necessary parts of the works, the pri- 
mary object, of course, being to deter- 
mine as accurately as possible the actual 
evaporation losses from the reservoir sur- 
faces. One of the accompanying illustra- 
tions shows the floating pan at the East 
Park Reservoir on the Orland project, 



California. Although variations in type 
of installation and equipment sometimes 
have been necessary in order to meet local 
conditions, the general design for land 
pan installations during recent years has 
followed the specifications adopted by 
the United States Weather Bureau for its 
Class A stations. Briefly stated, the Class 
A station is equipped with a circular 
evaporation pan, 4 feet in diameter and 
10 inches deep, mounted on a timber plat- 
form; and is provided with auxiliary 
meteorological equipment consisting of a 
rain gage, an anemometer, and maximum 
and minimum thermometers housed in a 
standard Weather Bureau thermometer 
shelter. The accompanying illustration 
of the evaporation station at the Elephant 
Butte Dam on the Rio Grande project, 
Xew Mexico-Texas, shows a typical Class 
A installation. 

The United States Weather Bureau has 
cooperated with the Bureau of Reclama- 
tion, in many instances, in furnishing 
evaporation equipment as well as in pub- 
lishing evaporation data. Many of the 
daily and monthly records of evaporation 
at stations on Bureau of Reclamation 
projects are published in the "Climato- 
logical Data for the United States," a 
monthly publication issued by the 
Weather Bureau. The greater number of 
the evaporation records published therein 
are for land pan stations, particularly 




Class A evaporation station at Elephant Butte Reservoir, Rio Grande project, New Mexico-Texas 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



Juno. I!li9 




Land evaporation pan at Newell Experiment Farm, Belle Fourche project, S. Dak. 



Class A installations, but a few floating 
pan records are included. 

The Bureau of Public Roads of the 
United States Department of Agriculture 
lias also cooperated with the Bureau of 
Reclamation in establishing and main- 
taining evaporation stations as well as in 
conducting special investigations of evapo- 
ration phenomena. In several instances 
evaporation stations have been main- 
tained by the Department of Agriculture 
.at their experiment farms on Federal 
irrigation projects. As a general rule 
these stations are equipped with circular 
pans, 6 feet in diameter and 24 inches 
deep, set in the ground to a depth of about 
21 inches; and are provided with rain 



gages, anemometers, and maximum and 
minimum thermometers. A typical 
installation of this type is shown in 
het accompanying illustration of the 
Newell Experiment Farm Station on 
the Belle Fourche project in South 
Dakota, except that the thermometer 
shelter is not within the field of view. 
The extra rain gage at this station, with 
the funnel cover removed, was installed 
for the purpose of measuring hail pre- 
cipitation. 

A tabular digest of evaporation records 
at all stations on Bureau of Reclamation 
projects, whether maintained by the 
Bureau of Reclamation or by other 
agencies, was published in the Transac- 



tions of the American Society of Civil 
Engineers for June, 1927, pages 266 to 
286, in an article by the writer entitled 
"Evaporation on United States Reclama- 
tion Projects." The tables included 
therein give the mean values of monthly 
evaporation calculated from the records 
available at the time of compilation, all 
data being corrected for precipitation. 
They also give the available data on mean 
monthly temperature, wind velocity, and 
relative humidity for the corresponding 
periods of time; data on maximum and 
minimum values of monthly and annual 
evaporation for selected stations; some 
data on evaporation from snow and ice 
surfaces at Saco, Mont.; and miscellane- 
ous additional information of pertinent 
interest in evaporation studies. Values 
of mean monthly evaporation at selected 
stations where records were obtained 
during the entire year, together with 
pertinent descriptive information, have 
been abstracted from the article men- 
tioned and are given in the accompanying 
tabulation. 

The records of evaporation given in the 
accompanying table, as well as those in- 
cluded in the original tabulations, are 
actual depths evaporated from water sur- 
faces in small pans. Such depths are 
usually greater than the depths evapo- 
rated from comparatively large lake and 
reservoir surfaces, especially in the case of 
the land pans. Data available at the 
present time indicate that the evaporation 
from the surface of a large body of water 



Average water surface evaporation at selected stations on Bureau of Reclamation projects as measured in small pans ' 



Project 


Station 


Type 


Pan 


Years of 
record 


Elevation (feet) 


Mean annual temperature, 
F. 


Mean annual wind velocity 
in miles per hour 


Mean evaporation, in inches, during months of 


Mean annual evaporation in 
feet 


January 


February 


2 


1 

< 


? 

z 



1 


K 

H 


| 

< 


September 


October 


November 


December 


Carlsbad 


Avalon Reserva- 
tion. 
Agricultural Col- 
lege. 
Mesilla Park 


Floating. _ 
Land 
do. 4 


19 inches by 3 feet, 
square. 
3 feet cubical ' 


1914 to 1923.. 
1908 to 1913.. 
1918 to 1923.. 

1917 to 1923.. 
1916 to 1923.. 
1921 to 1923.. 
1917 to 1923.. 

1908 to 1923.. 
1916 to 1923 


3,188 
'3,800 
3,863 

4,475 

2,175 
181 
127 

3,960 
6,230 

<1, 130 

4,100 

600 
623 

451 
5,39C 
4,070 


62.1 
60.3 
60.0 

61.1 
67.3 
70.7 
67.4 

50.6 
* 

58.2 

47.7 

51.6 
51.9 

51.6 
46.5 
46.2 



4.15 

4.52 
1.73 
3.03 
1.38 

3.24 
2.65 

7.88 
7.07 

2.95 
7.90 


2.09 
4.68 
3.06 

2.82 
2.31 
4.23 
3.08 

1.12 
1.58 

1.13 
3.07 

1.01 
1.13 

1.28 
0.87 
0.92 


1 
3. 10 5. 33 

3. 89 6. 56 
4. 26 7. 82 

3. 98 8. 05 
3. 03 5. 46 
6. 08 8. 71 
3. 95 5. 82 

1. 78 4. 03 
'2. 50 3. 37 

1. 64 2. 79 
2. 52 1. 82 

1. 12 2. 72 
0. 94 3. 20 

0. 90 2. 20 
1. 25 1. 02 
0. 84 2. 06 


7.15 
6.90 
10.03 

11.03 
7.88 
11.02 
7.60 

6.22 
3.08 

4.75 
2.82 

5.86 
4.21 

3.96 
3.44 

4.48 


7.99 
10.79 
12.19 

14.15 
11.08 
14.32 
8.25 

8.28 
3.75 

7.22 
4.73 

7.01 
6.47 

5.41 

4.86 
6.35 


8.41 
10.46 
12.49 

14.29 
13.36 

15.90 
9.00 

9.76 

4.44 

8.87 
6.51 

8.90 
7.90 

7.22 
7.46 
7.94 


9.97 
10.62 
12.23 

12.55 
12.52 
17.53 
10.42 

10.65 
5.69 

10.54 
8.55 

12.44 
9.13 

8.36 
8.22 
8.21 


9.14 

10.09 
10.08 

10.88 
10.45 
14.93 
9.46 

9.56 

5.91 

9.85 
7.49 

9.40 
8.29 

6.63 
7.88 
6.78 


8.31 
7.51 
7.61 

9.08 
8.73 
11.85 
7.30 

6.40 
4.61 

7.21 
6.10 

6.87 
5.44 

4.42 
5.43 
5.39 


6.25 
6.41 
6.13 

7.90 
6.04 
8.76 
5.29 

3.83 
3.43 

4.47 
4.33 

3.80 
3.23 

2.49 
2.97 
3.11 


3.16 
4.82 
3.56 

4.05 
4.05 
5.50 
3.16 

1.91 
2.62 

2.38 
2.96 

1.75 
1.37 

0. S4 
0.50 
1.71 


2.47 
3.83 
2.61 

3.02 
2.30 
3.98 
2.48 

0.76 
2.02 

1.54 
M.5C 

1.06 
0.71 

0.27 
X). 3( 
H). 5( 


6.11 
7.21 

7.67 

8.44 
7.26 
10.23 
6.32 

5.36 
3.58 

5.20 
4.36 

5.16 
4.33 

3.67 
3.73 
4.02 


Bio Grande 
Do 


10 inches by 4 feet, cir- 
cular, 
do 


Do... 


Elephant Butte 


do > 


Salt River 
Yuma . 


Roosevelt j do.* do 


Yuma Citrus 


do.* 


do 


Do 


Yuma Evapora- 
tion. 
Fallen 


do. 1 


do 


Newlands 
Do 


do 


2 feet by 6 feet, circu- 
lar.' 
10 inches by 4 feet, cir- 
cular, 
do 




Floating.. 
rin 


Orland i East Park 


1911 to 1923.. 
1921 to 1924 


Klarnath Klamath Falls (in 


22 inches by 42 inches, 
circular. 


TJmatilla 


Cold Springs 


do 


1909 to 1913.. 
1914 to 1923.. 

1912 to 1923.. 
1915 to 1924.. 
1910 to 1917.. 


Do 
Do 


do 
Hermiston 


Land 
do 


10 inches by 4 feet, cir- 
cular. 
2 feet by 6 feet, circu- 
lar.' 
10 inches by 4 feet, cir- 
cular, 
do 


Shoshone 


Shoshone Dam 


do 


North Platte... 


Sunflower Camp 


do 









1 Abstracted from article entitled " Evaporation on United States Reclamation Projects," by Ivan E. Houk, published in Trans. Am. Soc., C. E., June, 1927, pp. 25 i 
to 286. 

' Set in the ground. > Estimated. < Class A, U. S. Weather Bureau installation. 



June, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



95 



is from 90 to 95 per cent of the evaporation 
from a floating pan, the exact factor de- 
pending on the size of the pan; about 94 
per cent of the evaporation from a circu- 
lar pan 6 feet in diameter by 2 feet deep, 
set in the ground; about the same as the 
evaporation from a circular pan 12 feet 
in diameter by 3 feet deep, set in the 
ground; and about two-thirds as great as 
the evaporation from a Class A pan, the 
relatively greater pan evaporation in the 
case of the Class A station being due to 
higher water temperatures caused by 
absorption of heat from the exposed sides 
of the pan. 

Evaporation losses from lake and reser- 
voir surfaces in western United States 
usually vary from about 2 l /i feet per an- 



num in the northern mountainous regions 
to about 5 feet per annum in parts of the 
Southwestern States. Shoshone Reservoir 
in Wyoming, located at an elevation of 
approximately 5,400 feet above mean sea 
level, has an average annual evaporation 
of about 2% 'feet; Lake Tahoe, Calif., at 
an elevation of 6,230 feet, has an average 
annual evaporation of about 3K feet; 
Elephant Butte Reservoir, located in 
southern New Mexico, at an elevation of 
about 4,500 feet, has an average annual 
evaporation of about 5% feet. Records 
at the Yuma citrus land pan station, lo- 
cated on a desert mesa near Yuma, Ariz., 
where the meteorological conditions are 
unusually favorable for high rates of 
evaporation, show that a reservoir in that 



vicinity might have an average annual 
evaporation as high as 6% feet. 

Of course the total evaporation in any 
one year may be much greater or much 
less than the average. The actual pan 
evaporation at the Yuma citrus station 
has been as much as 11.3 feet in a year 
and as little as 9.5 feet, the average for 
the 3-year period of record being 10.2 
feet. Depths of water as great as 17 
inches have evaporated in a month at the 
Elephant Butte Class A station in south- 
ern New Mexico. Depths as great as 11 
inches have evaporated in a month at the 
East Park floating pan station in northern 
California. Depths as great as three- 
fourths inch have evaporated in a day at 
land pan stations in Arizona. 



A lasfca Railroad Stages 
A II- expense Tour 

To stimulate interest in the vast north- 
ern empire of Alaska, and to enable Gov- 
ernment employees to visit the Territory 
for less than it would cost them if making 
the trip alone, the Alaska Railroad, oper- 
ated by the Department of the Interior, 
is sponsoring and organizing a 1929 per- 
sonally conducted all-expense tour, leav- 
ing Washington, D. C., August 25 and 
Seattle August 31, cruising through the 
famous Inside Passage, the Gulf of Alaska, 
and Prince William Sound, thence to in- 
terior Alaska and return to Seward via 
the Alaska Railroad. The party will re- 
turn to Washington, D. C., on September 
25, the trip requiring 32 days, but only 26 
days of annual leave. The minimum cost, 
including transportation, Pullman, dining 
car, hotel room, meals, baggage transfer, 
side trips and entertainment, is $519 and 
the maximum $549. Rates for Govern- 
ment employees residing outside the Dis- 
trict of Columbia may be obtained from 
C. E. Harris, Traffic Manager, Depart- 
ment of the Interior, Washington, D. C., 
to whom all inquiries should be addressed. 
Reservations should be made as soon as 
possible. An initial deposit of 25 per cent 
will be required not later than July 16, 
the balance to be paid August 10. 



Reclamation and Crops 

From the Wall Street Journal. April 17. 1929 

"People east of the Mississippi River, I 
believe, have a wrong impression of rec- 
lamation projects," said F. E. William- 
son, president of the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railroad. "Although the Gov- 
ernment advances funds to build these 
projects, it is reimbursed by the land- 



"It has been charged that increased 
acreage would mean surplus crops and 
further force down the price of farm 
products. The three major crops which 
suffer from overproduction are wheat, 
corn, and cotton. On the other hand 
there are many farm products which we 
now import. 

"These importations run as high as 
$800,000,000 a year for products that 
could come from the soil of the United 
States through reclamation projects. 
Sugar is one example. Bee and dairy 
products, wool, alfalfa, and clover seed, 
and many other products in which farmers 
in the arid sections can specialize are 
other imports. 

"It is to the interest of the country as a 
whole that the West be allowed to develop, 
not only to enable it to supply food prod- 
ucts now produced in no other part of the 
country, but also to encourage growth of a 
flourishing population that can help 
absorb the staple farm products of the 
East, Middle West, and South." 



Boulder Dam Chart 
A vailable 

The Bureau of Reclamation has on 
hand a supply of the chart of the Boulder 
Canyon project act, printed on the inside 
front cover page of the May issue of the 
NEW RECLAMATION ERA. Copies of the 
chart may be obtained at 5 cents each. 
Quantity prices will be furnished on re- 
quest. Address the Commissioner, Bu- 
reau of Reclamation, Washington, D. C. 



Estimated vs. Actual Cost 

The following tabulation shows the esti- 
mated and actual cost of drainage con- 
struction in the Warmsprings Irrigation 



District, Vale project, Oregon, under the 
direction of D. J. Paul, associate engineer: 



Feature 


Estimated 


Actual 


Length of drains (miles) . . . 


47.96 


65 85 


Excavation (cubic yards). .. 


1, 926, 400 


2,293 860 


Cost 


$369 292 


$268 122 


Field cost per cubic yard 


$0 11 


$0 0688 









This is believed to be a record of field 
costs per cubic yard which is at least as low 
as if not lower than has been obtained 
on similar work in the bureau in the past, 
either by contract or by Government 
forces. On all of this work some extra cost 
was incurred in leveling off the spoil 
banks in order to present a more pleasing 
appearance. 



New Selling Service for 
Arizona Wool Growers 

A new wool-selling service is offered to 
farmers of the Salt River Valley, Ariz., 
who own only a few sheep. The Maricopa 
County Farm Bureau has become a 
member of the Arizona Wool Growers' 
Association, of Phoenix, and will assemble 
the small lots of wool and market it on a 
brokerage charge of one-eighth of a cent 
per pound. Ranchers wishing to sell 
wool under this plan will list it at farm 
bureau headquarters, giving the approxi- 
mate quantity. When a sufficient quan- 
tity is listed to attract a buyer, a day and 
place for delivery will be appointed and a 
buyer will be present as well as a repre- 
sentative of the county farm bureau and 
wool growers' association. Each farmer's 
wool will be graded and weighed sepa- 
rately and he will receive a check from the 
farm bureau less only the brokerage 
charge. The quantity of wool produced 
in the valley is estimated at approxi- 
mately two carloads of 30,000 pounds 
each. 



96 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



June, 192 



FUNDS AVAILABLE FISCAL YEAR 1930-APPROPRIATIONS, POWER REVENUES, AND ADVANCED FUNDS 



Project and division 


Interior Depart- 
ment appropria- 
tion act (Public 
No. uw:t, 70th 
Cong.), approved 
Mar. 4, 1929 


Power 
reve- 
nues 


Other 
appro- 
priations 


Funds 
ad- 
vanced 
for 
opera- 
tion 
and 
main- 
tenance 
(esti- 
mated) 


Total 
available 


Distribution by divisions and features for which appropriated 


Direct 
appro- 
priation 


Re- 
appro- 
priation 


Exam- 
ination 
and 
surveys 


Storage 
system 


Canal 
system 


Lat- 
eral 
system 


Drain- 
age 

system 


Power 

system 


Irri- 
gable 
lands 


Tele- 
phone 
sys- 
tem 


Opera- 
tion 
and 
main- 
tenance 


Mis- 
cella- 
neous 




$173,000 










$173,000 
1,000 




















$173, 000 
1,000 


Attendance technical and 


$1,000 


























Examination and inspection 


40,000 








40,000 

70,000 
320,000 


















$40,000 
70,000 


Operation and maintenance 


70,000 




























295,000 


$25,000 






























_ 1 




$20,000 








275,000 

25,000 
38,000 
50,000 
135,000 




Commercial power sys- 
































38,000 










3^,000 




















15,000 






$50,000 
135,000 
27,000 


65,000 
137,400 
953,000 








$1,800 


13,000 




$200 












$2,400 
40,000 






$2.400 












886,000 




























10,000 




50,000 








27,000 
20,000 



















$6,000 $800.000 




























40,000 












345,000 


1,200,000 


225,000 




80,000 


1, 850, 000 


















Reserved works, except 




















125,000 
50,000 


















i 








$100,000 








South Side pumping 
















50,000 
1,500,000 




25,000 








Gravity Extension Unit- 




























34 000 








41,000 


75,000 






























13,000 










































11.300 




















2,000 
2,000 










30,700 
















i 










16,000 






520,000 


152, 700 






10,500 


683,200 


1 




















150,000 
































487,000 


12,000 
2,700 






1,000 


30,000 
500 
55,000 
































195, 000 








55,000 
58,000 


250,000 
133,000 






195,000 














75,030 


















Reserved works, except 
























58.000 

75,000 




Commercial power sys- 




































6,003 








6,000 




















Truckee and Carson 










6,000 






















50,000 
250,000 


2.50,000 
125,000 
412,000 




650,003 




950,000 


966,666 














50,000 
375,000 










375,000 
412,000 
2,000,000 
5,000 
796,000 
437,000 


























412,000 
1,600,000 
















2,000,000 










400,000 






















5,000 










5,000 
6,000 




Vale 


236,000 
341,000 






560,000 


4.000 


230,000 


426,000 


130,000 












15,000 




81,000 




























80,000 
39,000 
2,000 






















185,000 


45,000 70,000 






$1.000 




























Refunds to lessees 






























15,000 




335,000 








75,000 


410, 666 
215,000 
1, 295, 000 






110,000 




225,000 








75,000 




215, 000 








215,000 














Yakima 


1, 295, 000 







































1,000,000 














45,000 
150,000 
100,000 
20,000 


































































Yakima-Kittitas division 


1, 132, 000 
561,000 


138,000 
100, OOC 








1, 270, 000 
681 000 






900,000 


350,000 












20,666 
































204,000 


392,000 






10,000 


5,000 


50,000 
20,000 




Commercial power sys- 
























63, 000 142, 000 


45,000 


20,000 


8,000 


278,000 




















oiiub uiie. _._-_-- .- 










117 000 








1.000 
10.000 
16,000 
20,000 


























20,000 






























44,000 


25,000 






























25,000 










75 000 






150,000 




225,000 
71,000 
65,000 


225,000 
71,000 


















Economic surveys and in- 




71 000 
























Refund of construction 
charges 




65,000 






















65,000 


Total from reclama- 
tion fund 


7, 978, 000 
100 000 


3, 863, 700 


390,000 


1, 422, 400 


625,500 


14, 279, 600 
100 000 


312,000 


5, 307, 000 


4, 287, 400 


981,500 


800,000 


125,000 11,200 6,000 


2. 195, 500 
100,000 
30,000 


254,000 












30,000 




30 000 














Grand total 
























S. (ITS, (XX 


:t.sr,n. 7(K 


390,000 


1, 452, 400 


625,500 


14, 409, 600 


312,000 


5,307,000 


4,287,400 


981,500 


800,000 


125,000 11,200 6,0002,325,500 
1 1 


254,000 





I'.S. GOVERNMENT I'RINTING OFFICK : 10i9 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 

HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Jos. M. Dixan, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 

Northcutt Ely and Ernest W. Sawyer, Executive Assistants 

Washington. D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 

Dcnaer. Colorado, Wilda Building 

R F Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Offutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; 
C. A. Lyman, Fiscal Inspector. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 




Newell, s Dak- 


F C Youngblutt 


J. P. Siebeneicher .. 


J. P. Siebeneneicher... 


Wm. J. Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso. Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 




R J Newell 


W. L. Vernon 




B. E. Stoutemver... 


Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N. Mex 
Grand Junction, Colo. 


L. E. Foster.. 
J C Page 


W. C. Berger 
W. J. Chiesman 


W. C. Berger 
W. J. Chiesman 


H J. S. Devries 


J. R. Alexander. 












King Hill 3 Kine Hill. Idaho 








::::::::::::;:::::;::::: 




Klamath Falls, Oreg.. 
Savage, Mont 
Malta, Mont.... 

Burlev. Idaho 


H. D. Newell 


N. G. Wheeler 


Joseph C. Avery 


R. J. Coffey 


Lower Yellowstone 
Milk River 


H. A. Parker 
11 H. Johnson... 
E. B. Darlington 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E. Chabot 
G. C. Patterson 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E. Chabot.. 


E. E. Roddis 


do 




Miss A. J. Larson 


B. E. Stoutemyer... 
R. J. Coffev 








North Platte * Mitchell Nebr 


H C Stetson 


Virgil E Hubbell 


Virgil E. Hubbell 1 Wm. J. Burke 










B. E. Stoutemver... 
R. J. CofFev 


Orland 


Orland, Calif 


R C E. Weber 


C. H. Lillingston 


C. H. Lillingston... 


Owyhee 


Oivyhee, Oreg ... 
El Paso Tex 


F. A. Banks 
L R Fiock 


H. N. Bickel 
Henrv H. B.>rryhill._. 
R B. Smith 


Frank P. Greene 

L. S. Kennicott 


B. E. Stoutemver .. 
H. J. S. Devries 






H D Comstock 


R. B. Smith 


Wm. J. Burke 














Shoshone 9 

Strawberry Valley 10 . . . 




L H Mitchell 


W F Sha 




E. E. Roddis 












Fairfield, Mont 


. 
G O Sanford 


H. W. Johnson 


H. W. Johnson 


E. E. Roddis... 


Umatilla" 


























L. J. Foster.. 
II W Bashore 


O H Bolt 


F. D. Helm 


J. R. Alexander 


Vale 






C. M. Voven 


B. E. Stoutemver 






p j Preston 




J C Gawler 


do 






R M Priest 


H. R. Pasewalk 


E. M. Philebaum 


R. J. Coffev 













Large Corutrudi >n Work 



Salt Lake Basin Echo 


Coalville. I'tah 


F F Smith 


C. F. Williams 




J. R. Alexander _. 


Montrose, Colo. 


Dam. 
Kittitas 




Walker R Young 


E. R. Mills 




B. E. Stoutemver 


Portland, Oreg. 


Sun River Gibson 




Ralph Lowry I3 


F C Lewis 


F. C. Lewis 


E. E. Roddis 


Billings, Mont. 


Dam. 


Fairfield Mont 


\ W Walker I! 






do. 


Do. 


Construction. 















' Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian. Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1. lt'2 >. 

1 Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1927. E. E. Lewis, manager. 

3 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 
F. L. Kinkade, manager. 

1 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation Dis- 
trict on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District on 
Dec. 2, 1916. 

5 Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1926. D. S. Stuver, manager. 

Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District o 1 
July 1, 1926, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by 
Northport Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



: Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 
Joe C. Iddings, manager. 

i Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. C. C. Cragin, general superintendent and chief engineer. 

9 Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

10 Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. Lee R. Taylor, manager. 

" Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

12 Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, A. C. Houghton, manager; and East Division by Hermiston Irriga- 
tion District informally on July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926, 
Enos D. Martin, manager. 

" Construction engineer. 



Important Inccsti'athru in Progress 



Project 


Office In charge of Cooperative agency 




Phoenix. Ariz J. R. lakisch Salt River Vallev Watrr Users' Association. 


Heart Mountain investigations. ._ 


Powell, Wyo._ I. B. Hosig 
Salt Lake City, Utah E.O.Larson State of Utah. 




Fallon, Nev A. W. Walker 




Yakima, Wash P. J. Preston 







HUGH A. BROWN, Editor. 



NEW 

RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



JULY, 1929 



NO. 7 




SOUTH BRANCH CANAL HEADWORKS, KITTITAS DIVISION, YAKIMA PROJECT, WASH. 



A FARM PROGRAM 

' I ^HERE are things so important that the Government 
1 must do them, if it is only through such exercise of 
collective power that they can be done. 
(( Our object must be (I) to make, the tenant farmer a land- 
owner; ( 2 ) to eliminate as far as possible the conditions 
which produce the shifting, seasonal, tramp type of labor, 
and to give the farm laborer a permanent status, a career as 
a farmer, for which his school education shall fit him, and 
which shall open to him the chance of in the end earning 
the ownership in fee of his own farm; (3) to secure cooper- 
ation among the small landowners, so that their energies 
shall produce the best possible results; (4) by progressive 
taxation or in other fashion to break u f> and prevent the for- 
mation of great landed estates, especially in so far as they 
consist of unused agricultural land; (5) to mal^e capital 
available for the farmers, and thereby put them more on an 
equality with other men engaged in business; (6) to care 
for the woman on the farm as much as for the man, and to 
eliminate the conditions which now so often tend to make, 
her life one of gray and sterile drudgery; (7) to do this 
primarily through the farmer himself, but also, when neces- 
sary, by the use of the entire collective power of the people 
of the country; for the Welfare of the farmer is the concern 

of all of us. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cento a year 

RAY LYMA.N WILBUR ELWOOD MEAD 

Secretary of the Interior Commusioner, Burecu of RecUmatioa 



Vol. 20 



July, 1929 



No. 7 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Irrigation Projects 



THE Vale-Owyhee Government Proj- 
ects Settlement Association is con- 
tinuing its campaign to secure settlers 
for the project lands and has for distri- 
bution to prospective settlers an illus- 
trated booklet descriptive of the Vale 
and Owyhee projects. Letters have been 
sent to all owners of land on the Harper 
unit asking whether they desire to sell or 
develop their lands. 



DAIRYING and poultry raising are 
showing a gratifying increase on 
the east division of the Umatilla project, 
the indications being that within the 
next few years 75 per cent of the division 
will be in the hands of poultry raisers 
and the remainder operated by dairymen. 



At 1 Owyhee Dam, Owyhee project, 
work continued on lining the diver- 
sion tunnel and excavation of the abut- 
ments. At the end of the month the 
dam was 12 per cent completed. 



A? Gibson Dam, Sun River project, 
8,600 cubic yards of concrete were 
placed during the month, bringing the 
total to 153,000 cubic yards, with only 
7,000 remaining before completion. 



A FRUIT and vegetable packing 
plant is being constructed at Mar- 
sing, Idaho, to handle the output of the 
Gem district and the Snake River slope of 
the Boise project. The plant is expected- 
to prove of great advantage to settlers in 
that section in disposing of perishable 
products. 



THE settlers in the Tule Lake division 
of the Klamath project have ap- 
pointed a committee to draft articles 
of incorporation and by-laws for a hay 
growers' association. A dairy association 
has also been formed on the project and is 
planning to construct a farmers' creamery 
at Klamath Falls. 

S7074 29 



THERE is a movement among the 
alfalfa hay growers on the Yuma 
project for the establishment of a Govern- 
ment hay grading station on the project 
similar to the one operating on the Salt 
River proiect. The growers wish to have 
their hay graded locally, and thereby 
assure themselves of a fair price for their 
product, the building up of the quality, 
and the assurance of a ready market 
which Government-graded hay brings. 



THE Yuma Mesa Grapefruit Co. has 
leased a site near the Southern Pacific 
tracks at the outskirts of Yuma where 
they will erect a $25,000 packing plant to 
handle their crop of citrus fruit. This 
year's bearing area of the company's 
lands will approximate 200 acres. 



ANEW airport has been established 
on the Belle Fourche project on a 
160-acre tract of land a few miles north 
of Belle Fourche. An up-to-date hangar, 
passenger station, and other improve- 
ments will be features of the airport. 



THE cheese factory at Rupert, Mini- 
doka project, has been forced to in- 
stall a new 6,000-pound vat on account of 
the increase in business. The other two 
vats in the factory have a capacity of 
8,000 pounds each. Daily receipts of milk 
are about 16,000 pounds, an increase of 
6,000 pounds during the year. The Mini- 
Cassia Cooperative Creamery at Burley 
now receives about 30,000 pounds of milk 
per day. 

A DEHYDRATION plant will be con- 
J~\_ structed on the Yuma mesa for the 
manufacture of a water softener in general 
use on railroads and in other industrial 
concerns where large quantities of water 
are used. The plant, with a capacity of 
2,000,000 pounds of the product annually, 
will be composed of a laboratory, ware- 
house, and concrete drying beds, covering 
approximately 5 acres. 



ANEW warehouse track a mile long 
has been built by the Oregon Short 
Line Railroad at Burley, Minidoka proj- 
ect, to care for increasing traffic, and 'it i> 
reported that the company plans to erect 
a large, modern freight depot durinj? f lib 
coming summer. 





GOOD progress has been made at>ehjo 
Dam, Salt Lake Basin projection 
raising the earth fill at the -upstream- toe 
of the dam and over the cut-off wall area. 
At the end of the month the dam was'35-2 
per cent completed. '. ; < 



THE Montrose Junior Band, Uncom- 
pahgre project, made up of boys and 
girls from the high school and grade schools 
of Montrose, and numbering about 70 
pieces, entered the national contest at 
Denver the latter part of May. 



THE fruit crop on the Grand Valley 
project is in excellent condition, hav- 
ing escaped all spring frosts, and it is an- 
ticipated that a heavy crop of peaches, 
pears, and apples will be produced in 
practically all sections. 



'THROUGH the cooperation of the 
_I_ county commissioners of Cascade 
and Teton Counties, Mont., the State 
Extension Service, and the Great Falls 
Chamber of Commerce, arrangements 
have been made to place an associate 
county agent on the Sun River project. 



E dairy herd of O. W. Moore, in 
J. Gering, North Platte project, was sold 
recently, eastern stockmen and dairy- 
men being the principal buyers. The 
stock in this herd comprised one of the 
finest in the State of Nebraska and 
brought a gross return of $12,300. All 
of the animals sold were registered Hoi- 
steins. The highest price paid for a single 
cow was $402.50 and for a bull, $900. 
The average price paid was $208.50. 

97 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



July, 1929 



Community Small Farms 



An address before the Twenty-second Annual Convention of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, 

Boston, Mass., June 28, 1929 

By Dr. Elwood Mead, United States Commissioner of Reclamation 
(NOTE. In the absence of Doctor Mead in the west, the address was delivered by Miss Mae A. Schnurr, secretary to the commissioner) 



THE invitation to participate in this 
conference and in the discussion of its 
important problems is appreciated. The 
Reclamation Bureau claims fellowship 
with realtors because it has placed settlers 
on 135,000 farms and has ahead of it the 
task of finding suitable settlers for 5,000 
additional farms. The bureau has been 
greatly helped in the past by the real- 
estate subdivider, and we hope and expect 
similar aid in the future, but we have to 
make our appeal to realtors on the ground 
of public advantage rather than private 
gain, because the settlement of land under 
reclamation projects is not directly remun- 
erative. There is no law under which the 
bureau can pay commissions for securing 
settlers on public land, but on private 
land it is a matter of arrangement between 
the owner and the selling agent, and with 
the movement of people away from farms 
rather than toward them, with the 
profits of agriculture not visible to any 
cultivators except those specially quali- 
fied, the peopling of unoccupied farm 
lands is to-day a problem of peculiar 
difficulties. 

We base our hope for cooperation, there- 
fore, on the fact that the reclamation 
policy is immensely worth while because 
it is striving to build up in waste places 
new organic communities of healthy, 
happy Americans, enjoying an American 
standard of living and creating and adding 
to the political and economic strength of 
our country. 

The attention now being given to what 
is required to create prosperous, stable 
farm communities is relatively new, and 
views thereon are still undergoing an 
evolution. It touched the city of this 
convention in 1918 when members of the 
Reclamation Bureau staff came to New 
England to see what opportunities New 
England had to provide homes for return- 
ing soldiers. There was misgiving that 
when more than a million men in our 
European army were returned to peace 
pursuits they could not be absorbed. 
Other countries had the same thought. 
Australia voted more than $200,000,000 
to aid returning soldiers to buy and 
improve farms. Canada arranged to lend 
each qualified ex-service man 82,500 to 
help improve his homestead. 

The farms available on western reclama- 
tion projects were so few in number that 
Secretary of the Interior Lane arranged for 



a study of what could be done in the 
neglected and abandoned farming sections 
of the East. It was known that in 50 years 
lands farmed in New England had 
decreased 42 per cent; that in the South 
more than half the farms were cultivated 
by tenants, and many millions of acres 
had gone out of cultivation and were 
being given over to weeds and brush. 

THE CITYWARD DRIFT 

Nothing came of the scheme, however. 
It was dropped because soldiers found 
employment in industry. The move- 
ment from rural communities to cities in 
the South is still going on. Between 
1920 and 1925 Alabama lost 19,000 
farmers, Georgia 60,000, South Carolina 
20,000. Speaking of it recently, Mr. 
George Soule said, "It looks more like 
an evacuation than a drift. A hostile 
army could hardly produce a greater 
effect." Few city dwellers realize how 
far this decadence has gone. They have 
not weighed the significance of the mil- 
lions of acres between Virginia and the 
Mississippi River which were once farmed 
but which are now given over to weeds 
and brush. These great areas of ne- 
glected land are close to the markets of 
our largest cities and are connected with 
them by direct railroad lines. They have 
conditions of soil and climate that make 
possible long growing seasons for a wide 
range of crops. They are far superior in 
their natural advantages to the country 
which supports the flourishing agricul- 
ture of Denmark and Germany. 

For several years, the thoughtful 
people of the Southern States have been 
giving these conditions serious attention, 
and after nearly 10 years of inquiry and 
effort a policy of planned community 
development has been evolved and a bill 
to carry this into effect has been intro- 
duced in the Senate of the special session 
of the Seventy-first Congress by Senator 
Simmons of North Carolina. The scheme 
includes an authorization of $12,000,000, 
to be appropriated by Congress, to enable 
land to be acquired and one colony estab- 
lished in each of 10 Southern States. 
The best minds of rural life are to be 
employed to determine the kind of agri- 
culture, the size of farms, the cooperative 
and other arrangements for marketing to 
enable these communities to function as 
the units of great industries now function. 



The idea would be to have the farms 
owned by their cultivators and to be of 
the size that would give employment to 
the farm family. The farms would be 
sold on terms which would enable the 
man who brought his little capital to 
the venture to borrow enough to make 
his home a going concern and enable him 
to obtain the best results out of his labor 
and investment. The purchase price 
would be repaid in not to exceed 40 years, 
with 4 per cent interest. 

FROM FAILURE TO SUCCESS 

The Fairway Farms in Montana are 
an illustration of what is proposed in this 
measure. Dry-farming agriculture car- 
ried out by settlers who had no special 
training on 160-acre farms proved a dis- 
astrous failure. The Rockefeller Founda- 
tion was appealed to to determine what 
kind of agriculture could be made to suc- 
ceed in Montana dry-farming conditions. 

Land was bought on which to create 
farms of different sized areas and for 
different types of agriculture. Good men 
as far as industry and thrift are concerned, 
but who had failed under unplanned 
settlements, were put on them and ade- 
quately financed for the kind of farms 
they were to develop and ultimately own. 
The scheme had been thought out by 
some of the best economic brains of the 
country. They knew what they wanted 
to do. What they had to find out was 
how large their farms should be, what 
rotation they should follow, how many 
head of livestock they should carry, what~ 
machinery to buy and how to handle it. 
Now the result is that these men who 
had failed before are succeeding. 

Such a scheme would recreate in this 
country a rural life and society closely 
resembling that established by the early 
settlers in New England. Their "towns" 
did not end with the stores, post office 
and the church, but included the farms 
of the surrounding country, and these 
"towns" were established for two things : 
The cultivation of the soils and the main- 
tenance of an ordered and religious 
society. To do this they selected their 
members and then they restricted the 
right to transfer land. No one was 
allowed through such transfers to bring 
in people whose character and habits 
would not maintain the standards of the 
community. 



July, 192S 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



In this country we have laid the foun- 
dation for making a demonstration or 
experiment of this policy. Machinery 
has lessened the hardest toil of the farm 
and made human labor more efficient. 
We have better breeds of livestock. We 
know more about how to maintain soil 
fertility and better appreciate the need 
for doing this. We are giving up the 
idea that each farmer can be a law to 
himself and ignore his neighbors. We are 
beginning to cooperate and act and think 
as communities. These things require 
our farmers to be informed about many 
things the pioneer did not have to con- 
sider. He must plan to operate his 
farm as factories are operated and that 
means he must study efficiency in farm 
operations and where and when to market 
his products. 

He must do this because the rewards 
of farming no longer come through 
increases in the value of land. Income 
and profits must come from growing 
more and better crops and combining 
with his neighbors to create markets and 
ship in car lots. 

RURAL RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH 

The introduction of these improve- 
ments through individual action, is 
almost impossible in many sections of the 
country. This is especially true in the 
South. In the first place it is based on 
different practices from those which have 
prevailed there for more than a century. 
The negro, the mule and the single-crop 
farm must give way to mixed farming, 
to the introduction of improved breeds 
of livestock, to the use of costlier and 
more complicated farm implements. It 
is impossible to bring about these changes 
through any existing agency. We can 
talk to the farmer until we are black in 
the face and he will go on as he has in 
the past. The credit and the financial 
strength needed in better farming are 
lacking. What we have is now largely 
based on cotton and tobacco. It must 
be entirely changed. To do this needs 
the encouragement and strengthening of 
purpose which comes from a group of 
people, acting together, from the oppor- 
tunities which this gives them to employ 
expert advice and direction, and thus 
have the benefit of superior training and 
intelligence, without too great expense. 
Rural reconstruction is a problem which 
transcends the power of the individual 
farm family. 

The South has been encouraged to re- 
vive this movement by the notable 
success of Mr. Hugh MacRae of Wilming- 
ton, N. C., in creating organized com- 
munities, and by the arguments of Doctor 
Long of Clemson College, South Carolina, 
and Doctor Branson of the University of 



North Carolina. They have shown that 
what the South needs is a complete 
change in farm practices. 

Changing the farmers' practices, and 
bringing him to do his work better than 
it has been done in the past can be 
brought about only by showing that good 
farming pays and by having men of knack 
and skill show the beginner how to carry 
on. Single communities in each State 
will be beacon lights. They will lead to 
the establishment of other communities. 

The most interesting feature of the 
hearing before the Senate Committee on 
the southern bill was testimony given by 
Hugh MacRae of Wilmington, N. C. 
Mr. MacRae was one of the first, if not 
the first, man in this country to realize the 
fact that the regeneration of rural life in 
the South could not come through indi- 
vidual action, but must come through 
group action. He knew what had been 
done in Denmark. As an able business 
man, he saw the great opportunities in 
the South and for years he worked as a 
pioneer, using his own money and giving 
freely of his time in the creation of one 
community after another, solving by trial 
the problems which were involved. His 
achievements and the patience and per- 
sistence with which he has labored entitle 
him to a Nobel prize or a distinguished- 
service medal. Some day his State will 
rear monuments to him, as northern 
Italy has done to Count Cavour for 
what he did for agriculture and rural life 
in that country. 

THE MACRAE COLONIES 

Speaking in support of the Simmons 
bill before the Senate committee, Mr. 
MacRae said: 

"Twenty-five years ago there was no 
guide to follow. It was just a matter of 
trying different methods and I believe I 
made almost every mistake that could be 
made. I belisve that what is unhappily 



designated as the farm problem is a 
multitude.of problems. I am an advocate. 
of the provisions of this bill as furnishing 
a solution for many of them." Speaking 
of his, ,Jategt. colony, which is widely 
known as C'astli: llayues, he said: "As the 
home of .this .colony I bought a worn-out 
cotton plantation of 600 acres, paying 
therefor SI 2 an acre. 1 first divided the 
land into farms of, 10 acres, because I 
believed that 10 acres would give employ- 
ment to all of the members of a farm 
family. I have since decided that 20 
acres is a better sized unit and through 
amalgamation and purchase most of the 
farms now have 20 acres. I sought to 
include among the settlers a few expert 
cultivators who knew how to grow crops of 
high acre value. I thought that would 
supplement the work of the advisers who 
were employed to show people how to 
farm. I advanced money to help them 
build houses and other necessary improve- 
ments, giving easy terms of payment for 
money advanced. I placed the well- 
being of the family above any financial 
return, but I realized that before it would 
have any educational value it must be a 
business enterprise, and this it has been. 

' ' When this area was acquired it had 
practically no value to the State of North 
Carolina. It would soon have become 
part of those millions of acres of neglected 
land, but through cooperation and credit 
needed to provide the equipment, the use 
of all that science and invention has 
brought to us, the 600 acres at Castle 
Haynes has produced crops worth $500,- 
000 a year and paid to the railroads 
150,000 a year for freight. Instead of 
the miserable cabins of the crop-share 
tenants, its homes arc a source of civic 
pride to the State and of comfort and 
enjoyment to the people who live in them. 
Farmers who came.. them ..jadtb. .nothing. 
are now worth $75,000, but the peoplej 
who now live there would have never 




A'.. A** 




General view of 4-year old grapefruit grove on Yuma Me?a 



100 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



July, 1829 



found themselves nor would the possi- 
bility of this region have ever been devel- 
oped if this had been left to the needed 
action of individuals." 

In the reclamation of western arid land 
as much attention is now being given to 
the agricultural and economic aspects as 
to the engineering. The growing of 
more crops and creating new wealth in 
land is being displaced in some measure 
by the new oojective of creating organized 
communities of healthy and happy 
Americans. The older and more pros- 
perous projects show what can be done 
by multiplying these splendid examples 
of wholesome and prosperous rural life. 
Times have changed and reclamation as a 
public policy must move forward as these 
changes require. If it does this, its social 
and political benefits will be immeasurably 
greater than can come from merely put- 
ting water on a few thousand more acres 
r f land ' k" J! f 

' The 'idea of planned and supervised 
settlements is not new. In 30 of the 
foremost countries of the world it was and 
is a national policy and has worked a 
marvelous improvement in rural life. 

A promising beginning has been made in 
this country, but future action will de- 
pend on an informed public and resulting 
legislation by Congress in support of the 

movement. " 

i-jdj 

, 
Among the causes of low-grade alfalfa 

are thin stands cpntaining weeds and 
grasses, foreign material such as decayed 
rakings from previous cuttings, weather 
damage, ovcrripeness at time of cutting, 
overdrying, baling, and stacking under- 
cured hay, baling during weather condi- 
tions which cause loss of leaves and 
stemmy appearing bales. 



The Don Martin Project, Mexico 

By Andrew Wtiu, Resident Engineer 



THE Don Martin project is one of the 
largest projects undertaken by the 
Mexican Irrigation Commission shortly 
after the passage of the Mexican Reclama- 
tion Law, approved February 6, 1 926. It 
is located on the Salado River in the States 
of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. The sta- 
tion of Rodriguez on the Mexican Na- 
tional Railways connecting Laredo with 
Mexico City, some 45 miles southwest of 
Laredo, is located near the center of its 
irrigable area, which embraces a total of 
about 160,000 acres. 

IRRIGATION PLAN AND WATER SUPPLY 

This project depends almost wholly 
upon the storage of flood waters of the 
Salado River in a reservoir located some 
60 miles due west of Laredo, Tex. The 
capacity of this reservoir is 1,123,600 acre 
feet, and its area at the flowage line is 
48,000 acres. These waters are to be 
retained by a dam now in course of con- 
struction in the bed of the Salado River, 
42 miles upstream from Rodriguez and an 
equal distance west-northwest from the 
station of Camaron, the latter being 
located 36 miles southwest of Laredo. The 
latter station is connected with the dam 
site by a gravel-surfaced highway which 
was constructed at the beginning of the 
project for the purpose of facilitating 
traffic and the transportation of the con- 
struction materials from the railroad to 
the dam and auxiliary works connected 
therewith. This dam will also serve to 
divert these waters into the main canal 




1 BOD MartteDafflf-Mejico, looking northwest along the aitSbf the overflow section,? Earth portion of dam in 

background 



heading at Don Martin and extending 
thence in a general easterly direction some 
26 miles, at which point one of the principal 
laterals continues in the same direction, a 
further distance of 48 miles to cover the 
first irrigation unit in the vicinity of 
Rodriguez and Camaron, comprising about 
40,000 acres. 

From the point of diversion of the 
Camaron Lateral the main canal will con- 
tinue in a general southerly direction some 
8 miles to the crossing of the Salado River, 
from which point it will continue in a 
general southeasterly direction, approxi- 
mately paralleling the course of the river, 
to cover some 87,000 acres of land along 
the south side of the river, the lower limit 
of which reaches to within about 3 miles of 
the crossing of the Laredo-Monterrey 
highway with the Salado River. 

The catchment basin for the reservoir 
covers some 12,000 square miles drained 
by the Sabinas and Nadadores Rivers, 
which unite to form the Salado about 5 
miles above the Don Martin Dam. This 
is a typical arid region, and the major part 
of the precipitation comes in the form of 
torrential rains generally distributed dur- 
ing the period May to September, and 
sometimes extending into October. From 
the available run-off record, which covers 
a series of 17 years, 1901 to 1912, inclusive, 
and 1923 to date, an annual yield of about 
683,000 acre-feet has been estimated. 
With an assumed carriage loss of 40 per 
cent the project works are planned to pro- 
vide annually a delivery of 1% acre-feet 
per acre of irrigable land over the irrigable 
area served. 

LAND OWNERSHIP 

The project area is wholly located upon 
private lands, a large part being owned by 
the Milmo estate, and the balance dis- 
tributed among not to exceed 30 to 40 
persons. With the exception of the Milmo 
estate, the lands privately owned are dis- 
tributed in lots generally laid out in strips 
of relatively narrow dimensions in widths 
of 4 or 5 kilometers and extending in 
length generally to the divides between 
the principal water courses as for exam- 
ple, on the north side of the river to the 
divide between the Rio Salado and Rio 
Grande. 

SURVEYS AND SUBDIVISIONS 

Only an approximate topographic sur- 
vey of the portion of the project north of 
the river and the reservoir basin was 



July, l 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



101 



available when construction was author- 
ized in October, 1926. Owing to the 
difficulty of taking field topography by 
means of orienting the instruments by 
triangulation signals, the country being 
but slightly rolling and for the most part 
covered with mesquite brush of varying 
heights, it was decided to establish a 
system of rectangular surveys in .all 
respects similar to that used in the west- 
ern part of the United States. For this 
purpose an initial point was established 
near the center of the project from which 
were projected a base line and principal 
meridian, and these were supplemented 
with parallels and meridional township 
lines at a distance of 10 kilometers apart. 
The interior subdivisional lines were made 
parallel to the eastern boundary of these 
townships so established, and divided 
each township into 25 sections, each 
resulting in an area of 400 hectares, or 
approximately 1,000 acres. This system, 
together with its level control, was then 
used as the basis of the topographic sur- 
veys which followed. 

The sections so established will serve in 
the subdivision of the lands into farm 
units, very similar to the system adopted 
in the United States. The exact mode of 
subdivision is as yet undetermined. 

The Main Canal passes through an 
auxiliary reservoir of 1,600 hectare-meter 
capacity (12,970 acre-feet) which will ma- 
terially aid in the regulation of the system 
below and the conservation of water dur- 
ing periods of changeable weather and the 
resulting fluctuating demands. 

As indicated above, the main canal is 
being constructed to its junction with 
one of the principal laterals of the system 
which will supply the first irrigation unit 
of 40,000 acres by means of a suitably 
designed system of distributaries. 

LATERAL SYSTEM 

The lateral system is being planned and 
built to reach each individual farm unit. 
It embodies all features and safeguards 
which experience has shown to be needful, 
keeping in mind the systems of irrigation 
which may here prevail. All structures 
are being planned as nearly permanent as 
may be devised. 

DRAINAGE SYSTEM 

The principal arteries of the drainage 
system are being planned and built in 
connection with the irrigation systems. 
These are being built of sufficient size and 
depth to carry safely all storm and waste 
waters and also to effect the collection of 
soil drainage. As these soils are generally 
of a fairly compact structure, the collec- 
tion and removal of seepage waters is 
believed to be necessary and important. 
To this end these ditches are generally 



excavated to depths of from 7 to 10 feet, 
all of the open type for reasons above' 

stated. 



SETTLEMENT PLANS 



Plans for Fair 



Plans for the settlement of the various 
project units are in course of study and 
development. Following the experiences 
of the Bureau of Reclamation in the 
United States it is planned to develop 
the project and open it for settlement in 
divisions of suitable size, each division 
being subdivided into farm units of such 
dimensions as may best meet the local 
circumstances and necessities. 

CONSTRUCTION OF WORKS 

The construction of this project, to- 
gether with projects located in Rio Mante, 
in the State of Tamaulipas, and on the 
Santiago River in Aguascalientes, is being 
carried forward under the supervision of 
the National Commission of Irrigation, 
under the immediate direction of the 
J. G. White Engineering Corporation, 
S. en C., with its principal offices in 
Mexico City, the management being 
supervised by G. W. Caldwell, general 
manager, and the engineering operations 
by C. H. Howell, chief engineer, the latter 
having recently succeeded F. E. Weyr 
mouth, former chief engineer of the 
Bureau of Reclamation. .. hUf , d , 

On the Don Martin project R. M. 
Conner is superintendent of construction, 
with Sr. Alfredo Becerril Colin as assist- 
ant. The engineering is locally in charge 
of the writer supported by Messrs. W. C. 
Christopher, I. B. Jones, and Charles P. 
Seger, all formerly of the Bureau of 
Reclamation, and by a very able staff of 
Mexican engineers. .The commission is 
represented locally by Srs. Manuel 
Bancalari and Francisco Ballesteros, tech- 
nical and administrative supervisors, 
respectively. 

. L.^ _; , 



jsift ^ 
Rio Grande Project Making 



The Rio Grande project, New Mexico- 
Texas, is to have a fair this coming Octo- 
ber, according to plans being drawn up by 
the directors of the Dona Ana County 
Farm Bureau. All farmers living in the 
Rio Grande project have been invited to 
join the farm bureau in presenting the 
biggest fair in the history of the project. 
It will be held at the fairgrounds at Las 
Cruces, these grounds, together with 
buildings to the value of $15,000, being 
the property of the county farm bureau: 

In addition to the agricultural features 
of the fair there will be sports of all kinds, 
the farm bureau fairground possessing race 
tracks, football field, and baseball dia^ 
mond. A big feature will be the military 
exhibition put on by the Cavalry at Fort 
Bliss. 

As Dona Ana County, according to 
Government figures, holds first place as a 1 
cotton-producing county in the United 
States, there will be some remarkably fine 
cotton exhibits on display. All the farm- 
ers of the project are expected to partici- 
pate in agricultural displays showing that 
their project well merits its fine reputation, 

airlT .6uV " "~ r "jrtiyA 

The deflation in farm values of some 
crops has alieady gone so far that instead 
of overproduction existing at the present 
time there is actually a shortage in certain 
staple food products. 



A CONTRACT has been lot for the 
2\. construction at Naches, Yakiina 
project, for the use of the Horticultural, 
Union, of a $60,000 cold-storage plant 
with a capacity of 175 carloads. 











. 



>, 
* :H 



. 
I 




Placing concrete facing on earth section of Don Martin Dam 



101 




Reclamation Project Women and Their Interests 

By Mat A. Schnurr, Secretary to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




-oJo< ' 

I 
vJni' 

OKANOGAN PROJECT. WASHINGTON 

JN I'.H'J t!...- Women's Country Club of 
C>iu;tk, Wash., \v;is organized. One 
year later it became nfliliated with the 
National Federation of Women's Clubs. 
It i.s (ho only women's club on this project 
and has been a very active organization 
throughout the 1(5 years of its existence. 
The club holds regular meetings and 
these are, alternately, a business meeting 
and a social meeting. The club is behind 
all movements that are for the benefit of 
the community. Its social gatherings are 
looked forward to as gala events offering 
a good time for all, and molding a spirit of 
neighborliness, and friendship among proj- 
ect jwoplo it would bo hard to bring alxnit 
in any other way. ,, 



KLAMATH PROJECT. OREGON-CALIFORNIA 
-IOIJIBCJ 

This project makes a nood showing on 
organized club work and informal ion on 
each group is presented: 

Langell Valley Women's Club. This 
club was organized May 27, 1915. It has 
about 30 members. Dues are. $1 per 
year. It meets at homes of different i 
members. Its purposes are sociable and 
charitable. Any woman over 18 yeara^ 
age is eligible to become a member. The 
regular meetings are the fourth Tuesday 
of each month, with one annual party for 
members and their husbands. 






> Activities of Our Projects 



Langell V alley Community Club. this 
club was incorporated in 1927. It built 
a building 32 by 60 with a'kitclien, stage, 
and dressing room. (See 'illustration.) 
Funds were raised by popular subscription 



and by borrowing money at a bank on 
notes signed by various members. The 
building cost about $2,500 and the in- 
debtedness has been reduced to a few 
hundred dollars. It is expected the build- 
ng will be free of indebtedness within a 
year. Meetings are the second Saturday 
of each month. The principal revenues ' 
derived from public dances vfhich^/i^^f^ 
from time to time. 

Langell Valley Grange. The grange has 
just been organized with ,38 members. 
It meets iii the community hall and lias 
the same activities a,s nil grange gnn 

Tin, Ritniinzii Community < 
<-lubis incorporated, both men and women 
being mejri'bers. Its purposes an- both 
soeia.1 and business. This club was in- 

i ivities which 
resulted in a school it\ nma-ium. Its 



main event is an annual Thanksgiving 
dinner. Two hundred people attended 
(lie one held last year. 

Bonanza Women's Club. For infor- 
mation about the Bonanza Women's 
Club I submit a memorandum prepared 
by one of its members: 

"Became a member of the Oregon 
Federation of Women's Clubs four years 
ago. Has about 30 members. Holds 
four meetings per month, one social, one 
business and health, two literary. This 
year we are sponsoring a series of silver 
teas for the benefit of Federation scholar- 
ship fund, Doembechcr Hospital, Chil- 
dren's Farm Home and our own library 
fund. Last year through the efforts of 
the club, a branch of the county library 
was established in Bonanza. At present 
the library is housed in the Odd Fellows 
Hall and club members take turns in 
acting as librarian. The library is open 
three times a week. In time we expect 
to have our owii building. We have $50 
in our building fund, donated to us by 
Bonanza Community Club from their 
prize money received from the county 
fair. Last year we also sponsored a com- 
munity clean-up day and plan to make 
it an annual event. A community loan 
closet has been established through the 
club's efforts, and a fairly full line of sick 
room supplies is kept on hand and loaned 
to anyone asking ' for them. The club 
stands for everything which tends toward 
better civic, moral and social betterment 
for the community." 

Poe Valley Community Club. Its pur- 
poses are both sfwial nnH business. There 



are no dues. It has purchased a club 
house which was formerly a school build- 
ing with dimensions of about 20 by 40 
feet. The building has been paid for 
through receipts from entertainments, 
which largely are dances and card parties. 
Ci-ti/rnl Commuttily Club. Its purposes 
are Mn-ud and business. Meetings are 
Jveld in the Henley gymnasium. (See 
illustration.' Dues are 50 cents per 
annum. Meetings are held the first and 
third Saturdays of each month. Dances 
an; given in the gymnasium, $20 being 
charged every time for the use of the hall. 
There are 175 members. A grange is 
beinu organi/ed lo serve-this community. 
While the gymnasium is on school 
grounds and under the control of the 
school management, it is used very much 
for community mee lings 'whether they be 



of a social or political character. It is 
also available for school plays and in 
the winter months is regularly used for 
basket ball. *3 

Merrill Community Hall. The Merrill 
Community Hall was built by a number 
of citizens who incorporated and issued 
shares having a par value of $10. There 
are 60 stockholders. The hall is 56 by 
100 feet with 16-foot ceilings. (See 
illustrations.) The stock has not yet 
been paid for although the probabilities 
are that those who bought stock will get 
their money back with reasonable interest. 
Moving pictures are held in this hall 
twice a week, and dances every Saturday 
night. 

Merrill Library Club. The activities 
of this club are given by the Secretary 
of the Club: 

"The purpose of the Merrill Library 
Club is to maintain and support a public 
library. Members' dues are $2 a year. 
Anyone, not a member of the club, may 
read by paying 50 cents a month or 10 
cents a book. All of the current maga- 
zines are in the library also, for patrons to 
read. The officers of the club consist of 
president, vice president, secretary, and 
treasurer. The library is kept open on 
all week days, except holidays, or by 
special permission of the president, from 
2 p. m. until 4.30 p. m. The librarian is 
chosen by the president and paid a salary 
of $12.50 a month for her services. She 
has the privileges of a club member 
during her service. At each meeting, a 
penny collection is taken up, such funds 
to be used for a flower fund for the sick. 

"Once each year, near Halloween 
time, the Library Club sponsors a dance 
for the purpose of making the greater 
part of money for the coming year. 
This year about $385 was cleared after all 
expenses were paid. Card parties are 
also given during the winter months, 
from time to time, with a small charge 
for each player. These money-making 
pastimes, together with the club members' 
dues, readers' dues and fines, finance the 
library. A fine of 2 cents per day on a 
book kept overtime is charged, two 
weeks for an old book and one week for a 
new one being the allowed time. 

"New books are purchased once a 
month, the number depending upon the 
amount of money the members decide to 
spend. The regular meetings are the 



July, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



103 



PROJECT 

CLUB 
ACTIVITIES 




I COMMUNITY HALL 
VALE PROJECT, OREGON. 



2. WOMEN'S IMPROVEMENT CLUB. 
ORLAND PROJECT. CALIFORNIA. 



3. MERRILL COMMUNITY HALL 
KLAMATH PROJECT. 
OREGON-CALIFORNIA. 




4. HENLEY GYMNASIUM. 
KLAMATH PROJECT, 
OREGON-CALIFORNIA. 



5. LANGELL VALLEY COMMUNITY HALL 
KLAMATH PROJECT. 
OREGON-CALIFORNIA 



6. WOMEN'S COUNTRY CLUB. OMAK 
OKANOGAN PROJECT, WASHINGTON. 




104 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



July, 1929 



first Thursday in each month, either at 
some member's home or the library. 
There are at present 75 paid-up members. 
There are 1,730 books now in stock. An 
insurance of $1,000 is carried by the club 
members on the books and furniture. 
The aim of the club is to furnish good 
reading material for the residents of the 
community at a small cost. The wants 
of the school children are also considered 
and a number of books ordered occa- 
sionally for school reading purposes. 

"I believe this club affiliates with the 
county library, which in turn ties in to the 
State library at Salem, Oreg. Anyone, 
through the county library or its branches, 
may secure books from the State library 
at Salem." 

Malin Helping Hand Society. Meet- 
ings of this organization are held in differ- 
ent homes. Dues are 25 cents per year. 
Its purposes are social and charitable. 
Its main purpose is to raise a fund with 
which to build a hall. A bazaar is given 
each year, the profits of which go toward 
the building fund. 

Bohemian Farmers Association, The 
settlers in the vicinity of Malin are 
almost all Bohemian. An association has 
been formed which has 45 members. 
Dues are $1.20 a year. Its purposes are 
cooperative, the idea being to aid any 
member in any way possible. Machinery 
is owned in common. At present they 
own a ditcher, threshing machine, and 
fanning mill. Machinery is loaned from 
farm to farm. This association com- 
municates with Bohemians in other locali- 
ties who desire to come to some Bohemian 
community. 

Tule Lake Community Club. The dues 
of this club are $1 a year and there are 50 
members. Meetings are held the first 
Saturday of each month. Its purposes 
are both social and business; to aid Tule 
Lake settlers in every way possible and 
to have some organization which can 
speak for the settlers. Thus far it has 
met in the loft of a barn which, however, 
has been given a good floor, is heated, and 
has electric lights. Dances are held 
there. A clubhouse will be built as soon 
as ttie location of the railroad is definitely 
known. It is the idea that a town site 
may be established, in which case the 
clubhouse will likely be located there. 
This club won first prize for the best float 
displaying farm products at the railroad 
celebration at Klamath Falls. It also 
won second prize for farm products ex- 
hibited at the Klamath County Fair. 

Kill Rare Club of Tule Lake. This 
lub is for women only. It has 30 mem- 
bers. Activities are social, literary, and 
of a public character. No dues are 
charged. A fund of $250 has been ac- 
cumulated which will aid in the construc- 
tion and furnishing of a clubhouse which 



the Tule Lake Community Club has 
planned to build. The Kill Kare Club is 
also affiliated with the Siskiyou County 
Library Association. 

ORLAND PROJECT. CALIFORNIA 

One of the leading organizations in 
club activities on the Orland project is 
the Women's Improvement Club, the 
meetings of which are held in the Orland 
Library. (See illustration.) This club 
is quite active in civic improvements in 
addition to its social activities. Several 
years ago it fostered a movement which 
resulted in the planting of considerable 
shrubbery and trees on the Orland Library 
grounds. 

There is also an Exchange Club meet- 
ing at present in the hotel. It is one of 
the many service clubs now in existence 
and during the past spring interested 
itself in the planting of rose bushes on the 
civic center at Orland. 

It is planned to eventually have club- 
houses in both Orland and Willows in 
the form of war memorial buildings. 
The California State law empowers the 
supervisors to levy a tax for this purpose 
and the American Legion Posts of Wil- 
lows and Orland have cooperated in a 
program for construction of such a build- 
ing for both "places. One of the uses for 
these buildings will be that of providing 
meeting places for the various clubs of the 
community. 

VALE PROJECT, OREGON 

The Vale project is planned to irrigate 
about 25,000 acres of bench land north 
and west of the city of Vale. As water 
will not be available for land of the Vale 
project prior to 1930 and as the precipita- 
tion, which does not exceed 10 inches per 
annum, is too small to permit any kind 
of farming, there are at present no settlers 
on the lands of the Vale project. How- 
ever, there are about 20,000 acres of land 
irrigated within the boundaries of the 
Warmsprings irrigation district immedi- 
ately surrounding the city of Vale, and it 
is from the settlers of the Warmsprings 
irrigation district and from the popula- 
tion of the city of Vale that the Women's 
Civic Club of Vale, Oreg., draws its 
membership. This club has been in 
existence about 15 years, has a member- 
ship of 60, and holds meetings at the 
Vale City Hall in the evenings of tht 
second and fourth Thursday of each 
month. 

The two outstanding results of com- 
munity effort in which the Women's 
Civic Club of Vale played a very prom- 
inent part are the remodeling of the old 
ichool building and the construction of 
the city park. 



The old building had been left standing 
idle after the construction of the new 
school building, and it was reconstructed 
and converted into a Community Hall 
(see illustration), which is used for public 
meetings but has its principal use at this 
time as a gymnasium for the Vale schools 
and for volley-ball games during the fall 
and winter seasons by the citizens of the 
town. 

The city park was built entirely by 
community effort. It has a grand stand 
which has seating capacity for 2,500 
people, a race track a quarter of a mile 
long, a dancing pavilion, and a free tourist 
park with drinking fountains, with plenty 
of bluegrass and shade trees. 

The park is also equipped with a large 
oven for preparing barbecued beef which 
is served annually on the Fourth of July. 
From four to six thousand people visit 
Vale for the celebration. 



Minidofaa Project Cow 
Maizes Fine Record 

Tests conducted by the Mini-Cassia 
Dairy Herd Improvement Association 
showed that a Holstein cow owned by 
Robert Girarclell, of Rupert, Minidoka 
project, Idaho, produced, during the year 
ended May 1, a total of 774 pounds of 
butterfat and 22,092 pounds of milk. 
The net profit from these two products 
was $261, and in addition she produced a 
heifer calf valued at $100. The average 
profit from each of seven cows owned by 
Mr. Girardell for the year was $140. The 
association again led the State in butterfat 
production for the month. 



Rio Grande Cotton Ginning 
Costs Reduced 

An anticipated saving of $60,000 for 
1929 has been secured for the farmers of 
Dona Ana County, in the Rio Grande 
project, New Mexico-Texas, by a reduc- 
tion in cotton-ginning charges through the 
instrumentality of the Dona Ana County 
Farm Bureau. 

These charges, according to Miss Mar- 
garet Page Hood, of the Las Cruces Cham- 
ber of Commerce, are fixed by the State 
Corporation Commission and were for- 
merly 45 cents a hundredweight. The 
ginners had asked for an increase to 50 
cents. Through the efforts of the farmers' 
organization the rates were reduced to a 
maximum of 40 cents, thus making a sub- 
stantial saving in the total ginning costs 
of the county. 



July, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



105 



Making Profitable Use of Abandoned Land 

C. C. Wright, Officer of Western Irrigation Agriculture, Prosser, Wash. 



PERHAPS the greatest factor in the 
solvency of existing Government irri- 
gation projects at the present time is 
the proper dispensation of the unim- 
proved, abandoned, or nonproductive 
lands which are held as security for the 
repayment of construction costs. On all 
of the projects there is a considerable area 
of poor land usually occurring as small 
parts or islands within the good land, 
which according to some authorities 
should never have been included in the 
scheme for irrigation development. Such 
land is generally of such poor character 
that when used for ordinary crop purposes 
it will not even justify the Government 
water charges against it to say nothing of 
paying local, county, and State taxes and 
recovering the expense of putting it under 
irrigation. In one small district compris- 
ing about 2,200 acres situated in the lower 
Yakima Valley there are at the present 
time about 300 acres which have been 
confiscated by the county and the irri- 
gation district for delinquent taxes and 
water assessments. Besides this, there 
are 370 acres foreclosed by the Federal 
farm loan bank and a number of farms in 
the hands of private mortgage companies, 
most of which is abandoned. As soon as 
this land becomes confiscated by the coun- 
ty it ceases to pay water assessments, 
and much of it in private ownership is 
several years delinquent in payments. 
Hence in this district a large percentage 
of the land does not pay either construc- 
tion costs or operation charges at the 
present time, but the remainder of the 
land in the district is required to carry 
the construction load and pay all of the 
operation and maintenance charges which 
should be shared by this nonproductive 
part. Many other districts in the lower 
valley have floated L. I. D. bonds and 
incurred other obligations until they are 
in much worse condition than this one. 
Obviously these lands are a liability 
rather than an asset, and solvency de- 
pends upon their just disposal or use. 

The uses to which these lands may be 
put are often very limited, but one way 
in which at least a small part of them can 
be utilized to very good advantage is 
illustrated by the following actual case: 

In April, 1927, a 40-ncre tract of this 
abandoned land was purchased for $3,200 
from the Federal farm loan bank, which 
had foreclosed a mortgage on it. This 
tract had never been known to produce 
more than a few tons of hay and a few 
bushels of corn each vear. It was one of 




This is Pedigree Avenue on "Henacres" irrigated poultry farm 



the farms which had been abandoned for 
several years. A fourth of it had never 
been irrigated and the neighbors all said 
it could not be irrigated. "It was too 
high, and even if it were leveled down 
it was so gravelly water would run 
through it too fast to do any good." 

The purchaser of this tract was E. R. 
Wells, owner and operator of one of the 
largest poultry plants in the Northwest. 
He hatches and sells approximately 
200,000 baby chicks a year. His entire 
organization has been built up on land 
irrigated by the Government and he 
started with a box of store eggs in 1908, 
together with a lot of fortitude and hard 
work. A unique feature of " Henacres "- 
the trade name of this plant is its cooper- 
ative plan with neighboring farms. 

A considerable number of farmers in the 
immediate vicinity of Prosser, Wash., the 
home of this plant, keep only "Henacres" 
Leghorns, and handle these flocks strictly 
as breeders the year around. They sell 
their eggs to Mr. Wells at a nice premium 
over market prices during hatching season. 
But in order to make this "Henacres" 
organization a little more independent, the 
abandoned 40-acre farm as mentioned 
above was purchased for $3,200 in the 
spring of 1927. 

About the first thing Mr. Wells did upon 
acquiring this "no good" land was to get 



in touch with the local agricultural experi- 
ment station. He consulted the crops 
specialist, the soil specialist, and the irri- 
gation specialist, and asked them to go 
over the land with him. After a thorough 
examination and survey, a certain crop- 
ping plan was laid out. The entire farm 
irrigation system was replanned and 
relaid; and 20 acres out of the 40 produced 
a good crop the first year. That part of 
the 40 which "could not be irrigated" 
was irrigated and is now producing alfalfa 
abundantly for 2,000 healthy, vigorous 
Leghorns each year, which help to produce 
the 300,000 eggs which hatch out the 
200,000 baby chicks which are sold all over 
the Northwest. 

This 40 acres, which up until the time of 
Mr. Wells's purchase was an idle, aban- 
doned waste, is now a thriving poultry 
laying farm. It is occupied by four large 
modern houses, a well-equipped barn, and 
is surrounded by a 6-foot woven-wire 
chicken-tight fence. Every acre of it is 
producing something, and Mr. Wells says 
in five years it will have paid for itself with 
a substantial profit besides. 

If more of the abandoned farms on our 
Government projects could be handled by 
men with the necessary capital, experi- 
ence, and ability, a large part of the 
burden which is now breaking the camel's 
back would be lifted. 



106 



NEW KECLAMATION ERA 



July, 1929 



Survey for All-American Canal, Boulder Canyon Project 



THERE is set out below in full a copy 
of the contract dated March 26, 
1929, recently entered into between the 
United States, on the one hand, and the 
Imperial Irrigation District and the 
Coachella Valley County Water District, 
on the other, for the expenditure of not to 
exceed $100,000. one-half by the United 
States and one-half by the districts for 
surveys, etc., connected with the pro- 
posed all-American canal, Boulder Canyon 
project. 

THE CONTRACT 

This agreement made the 26th day of 
March, 1929, between the United States 
of America, acting for this purpose 
through Elwood Mead, Commissioner, 
Bureau of Reclamation, under the pro- 
visions of the act of June 17, 1902 (32 
Stat. 388), and acts amendatory thereof 
or supplementary thereto, herein styled 
the United States, and the Imperial 
Irrigation District, an irrigation district 
organized and existing under and by 
virtue of the laws of the State of Cali- 
fornia, with its principal office at El 
Centro, Calif., and the Coachella Valley 
County Water District, a county water 
district organized and existing under and 
by virtue of the laws of the State of 
California, with its principal office at 
Coachella, Calif., herein styled the dis- 
tricts, witnesseth: 

2. Whereas it is desired to make in- 
vestigations and surveys of a main canal 
and appurtenant structures located en- 
tirely within the United States, connect- 
ing the Laguna Dam, or other suitable 
diversion dam, with the Imperial and 
Coachella Valleys, in California; and 

3. Whereas it will be of mutual ad- 
vantage, conducive to economy and 
efficiency, and will avoid a duplication of 
effort and expense to have said investiga- 
tions and surveys made by the United 
States, 

4. Now, therefore, in consideration of 
the premises and the mutual covenants 
and agreements herein contained, it is 
stipulated and agreed as follo,ws: 

5. The United States will make in- 
vestigations, surveys, and cost estimates 
of a main canal and appurtenant struc- 
tures, located entirely within the United 
States, connecting the Laguna Dam, or 
other suitable diversion dam, with the 
Imperial and Coachella Valleys, in Cali- 
fornia, which said surveys shall be made in 
sufficient detail so that the character and 
cost of development will be shown. 

6. The execution of the work here- 
under shall be under the supervision and 
direction of the chief engineer of the 
Bureau of Reclamation. All employees 
of the United States shall be subject to 
established rules and regulations of the 
United States Civil Service Commission. 

7. Upon the execution of this contract 
the districts shall deposit the sum of 
$10,000 with the fiscal agent of the 
Bureau of Reclamation at Denver, Colo., 
and on or before January 1, 1930, the 
districts shall deposit with said fiscal 
agent within 10 days after receipt of 



notice or notices from the chief engineer 
of the Bureau of Reclamation, the 
additional sum of not to exceed $15,000, 
and shall thereafter deposit the re- 
maining sum of $25,000 within 10 days 
from receipt of notice or notices from 
the said chief engineer, or so much 
thereof as may be required to complete 
the work as herein contemplated to be 
disbursed by the United States in the 
payment of the cost of the investigations, 
surveys, compilations, estimates, plans, 
and reports, including overhead and 
other expenses to be incurred in making 
said investigations and surveys, it being 
expressly understood and agreed that 
the obligation of each respective district 
in each instance where the districts are 
required to advance funds under this 
contract, shall be in the proportion of 
four parts from the Imperial Irrigation 
District and one part from the Coachella 
Valley County Water District, and bills 



New Map Available 

.4 new map of the Uncompahgre 
project, Colo., has been issued recently 
by the Washington office of the Bureau 
of Reclamation. The map, which is 
in colors, shows canals, laterals, waste 
ditches, tunnels, siphons, and topog- 
raphy, and includes a description of 
the project. The scale is 3 miles to an 
inch, and the size is 10 l /t by l%% 
inches. Copies may be purchased at 
10 cents each from the superintendent, 
Uncompahgre project, Bureau of Rec- 
lamation, Montrose, Colo., or from the 
commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Washington, D. C. 



or demands for advancement of funds 
shall, in each instance, be in that pro- 
portion of the respective sums demanded. 

8. The gross expenditures contem- 
plated by the said investigations and 
surveys is limited to the sum of $100,000, 
payable equally by the United States 
and the districts: Provided, That upon 
completion of the work any unexpended 
balance of the funds deposited by the 
respective districts shall be refunded. 

9. All work hercunder shall cease when 
the funds herein provided for shall have 
been expended, without reference to 
whether the investigations and surveys 
shall have been completed or not. 

10. Upon completion of the work or 
sooner termination thereof as herein 
provided, the field notes, original plans, 
calculations, or other data acquired or 
prepared by the United States in pur- 
suance of this agreement shall be filed 
with the Bureau of Reclamation, and 
copies thereof will be furnished the 
districts upon request, in event sufficient 
funds are available for the purpose. If 
funds are not thus available, then such 
copies will be furnished upon the estimated 
cost thereof being advanced by the 
respective districts. 



11. On completion of the investigations 
and surveys herein contemplated, or the 
sooner termination thereof as herein pro- 
vided, a report shall be made by the chief 
engineer of the Bureau of Reclamation 
outlining the scope of the work done, with 
explanatory maps, plans, and other docu- 
ments as exhibits, together with prelimi- 
nary estimates of cost for the proposed 
development, so far as practicable, and 
there shall be filed with said report a 
statement showing the amount of funds 
made available by the United States and 
the districts and the cost of making such 
investigations, surveys, estimates, and 
report. 

12. Any and all moneys advanced to 
the United States by the districts under 
the terms of this agreement and not 
refunded under the terms of article 8 
hereof shall be refunded to said districts 
from funds made available pursuant to 
the provisions of the Boulder Canyon 
project act, approved December 21, 1928, 
if and when funds for such purpose are 
made available by Congress. 

13. Where the operations of this con- 
tract extend beyond the current fiscal 
year it is understood that the contract is 
made contingent upon Congress making 
the necessary appropriation for expendi- 
tures hereunder after such current year 
has expired. In case such appropriation 
as may be necessary to carry out this 
contract is not made, the districts hereby 
release the United States from all liability 
due to the failure of Congress to make 
such appropriation, and in that case the 
United States hereby likewise releases 
the districts. 

14. No member of or delegate to 
Congress, or resident commissioner shall 
be admitted to any share or part of this 
contract or to any benefit that may arise 
therefrom. Nothing, however, herein 
contained shall be construed to extend to 
this contract if made with a corporation 
for its general benefit. 

In witness whereof, the parties have 
hereto signed their names the day and 
year first above written. 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
By ELWOOD MEAD, 
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation. 

IMPERIAL, IRRIGATION DISTRICT, 
By EARL C. POUND, President. 
By F. H. MclvER, Secretary. 
COACHELLA VALLEY COUNTY 

WATER DISTRICT, 
By R. W. BLACKBURN, President. 
Attest: 

MARGARET D. TURTON, 

Secretary. 



THE Boys' Sugar Beet Club on the 
Shoshone project has six members, 
each boy having one acre of beets, ex- 
cept one with an acre and a half. The 
Great Western Sugar Co. and the Castberg 
Creamery will present a high-grade dairy 
calf from Oregon to the champion beet- 
club member. 



July, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



107 



Classification and Appraisal of Land on New Projects 



THE classification of lands on new 
projects as now conducted includes 
first the separation of areas considered 
economically susceptible of reclamation 
from those which for any reason are be- 
lieved too poor to be farmed; and second 
the division of the irrigable area into 
classes to show the relative productive 
value. 

The results of classification in addition 
to forming a basis for the determination 
of storage requirements and for laying 
out the lateral system and farm units, 
are useful as a factor in determining feasi- 
bility, as a basis for appraisal, and in 
some cases it is possible to give soil 
information that will be helpful to the 
drainage engineer in estimating future 
drainage requirements. 

CLASSIFICATION METHODS 

A number of different classification 
methods are used, depending on the par- 
taicular requirements of the different 
projects and with variation in the informa- 
tion to be reflected. The basic system 
now approved includes the division of 
the project lands into three classes, one 
nonirrigable (class 6) and two irrigable 
(classes 1 and 2). In some cases addi- 
tional classes are required. The partic- 
ular conditions which will decide in what 
class an area of land should be placed will 
not be the same on all projects, but the 
following definitions serve as a general 
guide: 

Irrigable Lana 

Class 1. Soils of the project best 
suited to the type of agriculture to which 
the region is adapted. Topography 
smooth with slopes less than 6 per cent 
and with reasonably large-sized areas 
sloping in the same plane. Drainage 
conditions favorable, both present and 
prospective. 

Class 2. Lands of relatively less value 
for irrigation farming due to poorer soil, 
topography, or drainage or a combination 
of these conditions. This includes slopes 
up to 12 per cent. 

Nonirrigable land 

Class 6. This class includes lands con- 
sidered nonirrigable on account of poor 
soil, rough or steep topography, or unfa- 
vorable drainage conditions. 

Factors to be considered in classifying 
land may be grouped under three head- 
ings, i. e., soil, topography, and drainage. 
The method of giving consideration to 
these three factors was first used by A. T. 
Strahorn, of the United States Bureau of 



By W, W. Johnslon, Associate Reclamation Economist 

Soils, who has classified much of the land 
on Government projects. The reason for 
placing land in a lower class than "1" is 
indicated on classification maps by placing 
the letter s, t, or d after the classification 
number or in cases where more than one 
of these factors has contributed, a com- 
bination of these letters is used; "s" indi- 
cates soil, "t" topography, and "d" 
drainage. 

SOILS 

Soil considerations may be divided into 
chemical and physical. Chemical char- 
acteristics include fertility, alkalinity, and 
the relation of bases in the soil make-up. 
Complete chemical analyses are generally 
of little value in classifying land. With 
the exception of very sandy soils the 
content of mineral plant foods is almost 
always high enough so that this is not a 
limiting factor. Nitrogen and humus are 
almost always low, but this deficiency 
must be taken care of by subsequent 
cropping. Field tests and occasionally 
more detailed laboratory tests are useful 
in deciding on present and possible future 
alkalinity. It is important to know if the 
soil is high in lime and that the ratio of 
the so-called earthly bases, such as cal- 
cium and magnesium, is high in propor- 
tion to the alkali bases, such as sodium 
and potassium, for otherwise there is 
danger of a hard impervious black alkali 
condition developing, which is not reme- 
died by drainage. Physical considera- 
tions include such factors as texture, 
depth, compactness, and the study of the 
soil profile. Since most of our new proj- 
ects include high bench lands, depth is 
often a limiting factor and it is important 
to know what underlies the soil, depth to 
gravel or creviced basalt meaning quite a 
different thing from depth to alkali 
shales. 

TOPOGRAPHY 

Topographic limitations vary some- 
what with the locality, the soil, and the 
purpose for which the land is to be used. 
Costs for preparing land and in irrigating 
it, which would be excessive for general 
farming, may form only an item in the 
expense of producing high-class fruit 
which would be much more than counter- 
balanced by the benefit of better air 
drainage which may be available on the 
steeper land. 

DRAINAGE 

In the third item considered, i. e., 
drainage, no eliminations are made except 
of areas that are obviously undesirable, 



such as the bottoms of narrow draws and 
drainage courses. The general problems 
of drainage must be decided by the 
drainage engineer and not the land classi- 
fier. It is possible, however, by classi- 
fying certain areas down on account of 
drainage, to call attention to the existence 
of soil conditions which will hinder the 
percolation of water and which would 
warrant special consideration in advance 
of irrigation development. Areas where 
hard alkaline conditions exist which it is 
believed would not be remedied by keep- 
ing the water table down, are classed out 
on account of soil. 

PROBLEMS OF LAND CLASSIFICATION 

In the progress of making land classi- 
fications in different parts of the West, 
problems are constantly arising and 
some of these are general in nature. 
Anyone who has examined land classi- 
fication maps made by different indi- 
viduals can not help but be impressed by 
the extreme variation in opinion to as 
just what constitutes desirable irrigable 
land. This may be explained in a few- 
cases by the fact that the classification 
was made by State employees or others 
who were not influenced by the policies of 
the bureau, but generally variation is due 
to a difference in judgment or in the 
methods used. It is rare to find two 
equally we!' qualified men who will agree- 
in detail as to the proper rules for the 
classification of a particular unit and 
still more variation will occur in their 
interpretation of these rules in the field. 

Exactly what can be done in the way 
of standardization is problematical. The 
simpler a classification is, the more apt we 
are to have uniform results. A classifi- 
cation system such as has been described, 
including only two irrigable classes, can 
be more accurately followed than one 
including four or five classes, but there is 
still a great deal of chance for variation 
in deciding just what soils are best and 
just what topography is desirable. 

Practically all new projects are near 
developed irrigated lands, generally on 
similar soil types. Where such con- 
ditions prevail the classification standards 
to be followed for the new area can be 
based quite largely on a study of the soils 
of the developed lands and the results 
being secured from irrigating them. 
There is too much variation in the chemi- 
cal and physical made-up of soils of 
different origin and which have developed 
under varying climatic conditions to 



108 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



July, 192 



warrant the use of any fixed classificatioi 
standards. These need to be fixed for 
each project to be studied. 

USE OF A SUSPENDED CLASS ON NEW 
PROJECTS 

Another problem is the use of a sus- 
pended class on new projects. There are 
generally certain lands which are margina! 
between class 6 (nonirrigable) and the 
lowest class if irrigable land. In 
number of classifications such lands have 
been placed in class 5. The use of this 
class, while sometimes making it possible 
to give a better picture of soil and topo- 
graphic conditions, has a tendency to 
cause confusion and for this reason many 
believe that it should never be used on 
new projects. The question always arises 
as to what consideration is to be given 
to such lands in figuring canal capacities. 
It has generally been recommended that 
such areas be considered as a part of the 
nonirrigable area as far as consideration 
for construction is concerned. In a 
few cases it has been recommended that 
areas of class 5 occurring in farm units 
largely of better soil be included in lateral 
capacities, and that areas occurring in 
larger bodies, particularly when these 
require additional lateral construction be 
considered as totally nonirrigable. An- 
other trouble with the use of class 5 on new 
lands is that there is a tendency for the 
classifier to include in it areas which it is 
hard to classify rather than to make the 
necessary study to decide about such 
questionable areas. It would appear 
that there should be a very compelling 
reason before class 5 should be used and 
that it should only be made to apply to 
a single particular soil or topographic 
condition. 

LAND APPRAISAL 

The appraisal of lands on new projects 
may include both the evaluation of un- 
developed lands and of developed prop- 
erties. This phase of the work can 
probably best be discussed by telling of a 
typical example of the appraisal of the 
lands of a new project, for example, the 
gravity extension of the Minidoka project. 

APPRAISAL OF EXCESS LANDS 

Contracts between this district and the 
Government called for the appraisal of 
lands in excess of 160 irrigable acres, 
including mainly old properties which are 
to receive a supplemental water supply 
from the American Falls Reservoir, and 
also of new lands which are to receive a 
full water supply and are mainly in the 
raw state. 

The contracts called for the appraisal 
of lands, including water right, separate 



from the improvements. Leveling of land 
and other improvement in preparation for 
irrigation were to be included with the 
"improvements" so that the value as 
fixed for the land on these improved 
properties should be comparable to the 
value of raw land plus the value of the 
water right appurtenant to it, together 
with some increased value by reason of 
the land having been cropped to legumes. 

The appraisal board included one man 
representing the district, one the Secretary 
of the Interior, and the third selected by 
the other two. They had at their dis- 
posal land-classification maps of all the 
new lands, very good irrigable-area survey 
records of the old lands, and information 
of the relative value of the appurtenant 
water rights. 

The board decided that an acre of the 
best land with a share in the Big Wood 
Canal Co., on which there was evidence 
that the fertility had been maintained, 
was worth $50, and that the poorest land, 
chiefly of value because of the water right 
attached to it, was worth about $25. 
Values were then fixed with these limits 
as standards. 

For convenience in arriving at the value 
of improvements these were considered 
under three heads, the first being condi- 
tion, including leveling, removal of rock, 
and farm-irrigation structures, together 
with some little increase by reason of 
certain areas being in a well-established 
permanent crop, such as tame pasture or 
a good new stand of alfalfa; second, the 
value of buildings and domestic water; 
and third, the value of fences and corrals. 

In the case of improvements as well as 
land certain standards of value were 
agreed upon and these were kept in mind 
as general guides. For instance, a good 
well in that country is worth about $1,000, 
being relatively costly because of the 
considerable depth which must be drilled 
through basalt. Therefore when a 40- 
acre tract was found to have a good well 
with casing and pump in good repair this 
item was listed in the notes as having the 
value of $1,000. If there was also a high- 
class storage tank with the water piped to 
house and barn an additional value was 
ncluded to care for these features. If 
on the other hand the equipment and 
casing were found to be in poor condition 
or inquiry revealed that the water supply 
was deficient, a lower value was assumed, 
iondition varied from nothing to $45 per 
acre. Conditioning costs have been rel- 
atively high on this district because of the 
more or less general occurrence of loose 
ock in patches. The figure is less than 
lalf of the cost of many farms when the 
armer's tie has been taken into con- 
ideration as having value. 



It was felt by the board that this system 
of considering these various items in ar- 
riving at the value of a 40-acre tract and of 
keeping certain values in mind as stand- 
ards helped to keep the appraisal uniform 
and to make the values as fixed for the 
different tracts fair and comparable. 
There are a great many ideas of value, de- 
pending largely on whether a person has 
something to sell or desires to buy, but a 
landowner will not object so much if he 
feels that he has been given as good a 
value as his neighbor. Also, he will be 
more tractable if he has had the oppor- 
tunity to express his views before the 
board. Whenever the landowner was on 
hand when the appraisal was being made 
he was consulted and after all the values 
had been tentatively fixed, a meeting was 
held by the board at which time any in- 
terested landowners were invited to meet 
them and express their views. Prior to 
the meeting the secretary of the district 
had mailed each a list of his land, together 
with a statement of the appraisal that had 
been tentatively made. A number ap- 
peared before the board and voiced ob- 
jections. In a few cases evidence was pre- 
sented which convinced the board that 
something had been overlooked and a few 
changes were made. It is believed that 
this meeting was a valuable contributing 
factor in enabling the district officials to 
secure 100 per cent signatures on excess 
land contracts. That this exceptance was 
not due to excessively liberal appraisals is 
attested by the fact that the representa- 
tive of one of the largest excess landown- 
ers, a loan company which had acquired 
their holdings through foreclosure, showed 
that the board's appraisal, which they ac- 
cepted, totaled for their properties, ap- 
proximately $20,000 less than the loans 
and the cost of foreclosure. 

APPRAISAL OF NEW LANDS 

New lands on the project were appraised 
on the basis of classification, values being 
fixed by the board as follows: 

Class 1: $15, $12, or $10 per acre de- 
pending on the extent to which the sub- 
division was cut up by class 2 or class 6 
areas and the location with respect to 
large bodies of irrigable land, the value 
being less in isolated areas. 

Class 2: $8, $6, or $4 per acre depend- 
ing on the extent to which the subdi- 
vision was cut up by class 6 areas. 

Class 6: $1 per acre. 

PROBLEMS OF NEW LAND APPRAISAL 

The above values are high when con- 
sidered strictly on the basis of present 
utility but some such values must be used 
in order to give a reasonable spread be- 
tween lands of different classes. In fact 
with irrigation assessment on a flat-rate 
basis it is questionable if there is enough 



July, 1929 



NEW KECLAMATION ERA 



109 



difference. A purchaser of class 1 land at 
$15 will have a better deal than the settler 
who buys the poorest irrigable land at $4. 
The values may seem low to landowners 
with speculative motives who disregard 
the cost of making a farm out of a piece of 
raw land. An analysis will show, however, 
that this is not the case. 

The economic report on this project 
shows that it will cost the average new 
settler $6,000 or more to develop a farm 
with 70 irrigable acres to the point of a 
going concern and to purchase necessary 
livestock and equipment. Of this amount 
some $3,800 or $55 per acre represents 
cost of necessary buildings, leveling, and 
other real-estate improvements. It is 
understood that construction costs will be 
in the neighborhood of $90 per acre, 
making the cost for water and land $145. 
The average sale price of 25 developed 
farms sold in 1926 on the adjoining north 
side Twin Falls tract, was $130 per acre. 
These lands had a bonded debt of only $7 
per acre. 

It is evident from this comparison that 
the only chance the new settler has to 
come out even and to obtain a small 
amount as wages for the labor he has ex- 
pended in developing the farm, is in the 
advantage of interest-free money for con- 
struction repayment. Perhaps the most 
optimistic way of looking at this cost is to 
consider the yearly assessments for con- 
struction repayment as interest on a 
capital investment; $90 per acre to be 
paid in 40 annual installments equals an 
assessment of $2.25 per year. This is 6 
per cent interest on $37.50 and would 
make the cost of the producing farms a 
little over $90 per acre. When compared 
with the value of developed properties 
this leaves only a margin of $30 per acre 
as payment for four years of hard work 
and as value for the land, since only a 
filing fee of $1.50 was considered in the 
calculations. These figures while theo- 
retical, are based on a rather careful 
study of the situation. They represent 



what may be accomplished by the average 
selected settler. Some would do better, 
but since no allowance is made for sick- 
ness or more than ordinary contingencies, 
the figures given more nearly represent 
minimum than maximum costs. No mat- 
ter what method of calculation is used it 
is evident that the cost of improving a 
raw piece of land, together with the cost 
of water, precludes the valuation of raw 
land at more than a few dollars per acre. 
These conditions are equally true on the 
other new projects, for while in some 
localities the value of the developed farm 
would exceed $130 per acre, the construc- 
tion costs on such projects are correspond- 
ingly higher than in the example used. 

A number of additional problems come 
up to the man in the field in appraising 
undeveloped lands. The appraisals so 
far made have been on the basis of classi- 
fication. Land classification, however, 
does not take into consideration two fac- 
tors which under some conditions have a 
real effect on the value of the land for 
farming. These are location and air 
drainage. 

The location of a farm some miles dis- 
tant from a shipping point may, for in- 
stance, mean that the farmer will have to 
forego the production of some crop such 
as sugar beets which might be the most 
profitable crop in the country. Air 
drainage is only of significant importance 
in a fruit producing area. In a portion 
of the Roza division of the Yakima 
project, for instance, some of the best 
prospective fruit land is in class 3 on 
account of topography. This land is 
valued locally at a considerably higher 
figure than the flatter class 1 land, be- 
cause of having good air drainage and 
being especially well adapted to soft 
fruits. It is true that the cost of bring- 
ing a young orchard to bearing stage, 
together with the high cost of a water 
right, is too high to allow much value for 
the raw land, but if a man is going to 
develop an orchard it will pay him to 



secure higher priced land well adapted to 
orchard production rather than to pay a 
much lower price for land less favorably 
situated for this purpose. 

Contracts allow the sale of new lands 
at figures in excess of the appraisal, pro- 
vided one-half of such excess be applied 
on irrigation charges, and this provision 
will probably take care of the location 
problem. It is likely, however, in a fruit 
producing area, that there would be a 
pressing demand for higher appraisal on 
land especially good air drainage, which 
is especially adapted to fruit production, 
and the basis on which such appraisals 
should be made presents a problem which 
would seem to warrant some thought and 
consideration. 



Small Grain Useful in 

Irrigation Farming 

In well-established irrigated sections 
small grain is grown as a secondary crop 
in rotation or to utilize land where the 
water supply is insufficient to mature more 
valuable crops, according to W. W. 
McLaughlin, irrigation specialist, in 
Farmers' Bulletin 1556-F. The common 
practice on new land is to grow one or 
two crops of small grain, during which 
time the farmer may determine where the 
surface needs further leveling. On new 
land flooding generally gives better results 
than other methods, and when the grain 
is harvested the water marks are valuable 
guides in leveling the field in preparation 
for more valuable and permanent crops, 
such as alfalfa. 

Flooding from field ditches is the usual 
method employed, but wild flooding, the 
border method, and the corrugation 
method are adapted to such crops. The 
bulletin also discusses the preparation of 
the land for irrigation, the proper time to 
apply water for spring and fall grains, and 
the quantity required. 




Gibson Dam Son River project, Montana, ncaring completion 



Ill) 



NEW RELLAMATION ERA 



July, 1929 



Adequate Capital Essential 

If Settlers are to Succeed 



THE following interesting discussion 
of the capital requirements of settlers 
is from the report of the Department of 
Lands of the Union of South Africa for 
the year April 1, 1927, to March 31, 1928: 
A factor contributing to the heavy 
arrears and equally to the losses recorded 
year by year in respect of advances made 
to settlers who have failed and of rent 
and interest due by the latter and written 
off is the insufficiency of the capital with 
which many settlers start operations. It 
is necessary to mention this matter. The 
records of the department certainly con- 
tain ample evidence of men having proved 
strikingly successful who began operations 
with a very small initial capital of their 
own, or even entirely with borrowed 
money. Capital is admittedly not the 
only requisite of the prospective settler. 
But the successful men in these circum- 
stances are the exceptions and it can not 
be gainsaid that, without a reasonable 
initial private capital, the chances are on 
the side of failure. What is a reasonable 
capital depends of course on the class of 
farming to be pursued, but even a small 
holding absorbs more capital than is gen- 
erally assumed. Wherever the depart- 
ment examines *the position, the fact 
emerges that one of the root causes for 
the failure of many settlers in the past 
and for the difficulties under which many 
of the existing settlers labor has been a 
lack of initial private capital. 

There are, of course, notable exceptions 
to this general statement, such as, for in- 
stance, where settlements were estab- 
lished on unsuitable land or on uneco- 



nomic unit holdings or where, as in north- 
ern Zululand, other factors beat settlers 
of an excellent type with substantial 
capital. On some of the closer settle- 
ments where the greater portion of the 
working capital was provided by the de- 
partment, the small holders have, in many 
cases, never been able to free themselves 
from the handicap of debt. Such small 
initial capital as they had was expended 
on the first crop. If it was a poor one, 
as is often the case on virgin soil during 
the first year, store and other credit had 
to be obtained. If only average seasons 
followed, the holdings began to suffer as 
the settlers were without the necessary 
funds to purchase fertilizers and go on 
with development; the diminishing return 
circle set in. In those dry settlement 
areas suitable mainly for stock raising, a 
settler with, say, 50 head of indifferent 
quality stock makes but a poor living on 
a farm that could readily carry four times 
that number, from which a reasonable 
living could be obtained. Starting with 
a few head of breeding stock, the necessity 
for providing for his family compels him 
to sell every year the equivalent to the 
increase. He struggles on in this fashion 
year after year. Any improvement in 
type of stock is not to be expected. To 
improve a herd costs money, and this he 
has not got. The time comes when unless 
assisted financially by the department he 
transfers his farm to some one else who 
pays him a small consideration to get out. 
The business of farming can not be em- 
barked on successfully without capital 
any more than anv other business can. 




The department has made many advances 
in the past to supplement the initial cap- 
ital of settlers and, quite clearly, it will 
have to continue to do so. But extensive 
departmental advances, except for breed- 
ing stock, can prove to be too great a 
handicap to success, and this has been 
particularly the case on closer settlements. 
The losses on advances on the settlements 
have been high, much higher in propor- 
tion to those incurred in stock areas. 
The less the small holder in particular is 
loaded with debt the better, even if the 
debt be to the department. 

Whether the probationary settlers on 
small holdings established under the 
scheme inaugurated in 1925 will succeed 
with the whole of their working capital 
provided by the department can not yet 
be determined. They certainly start on 
fully improved holdings as going concerns 
under much more favorable conditions 
than their small holder predecessors under 
other schemes, who, in most cases, had 
to tackle virgin land. It will be some 
years, however, before the results are 
known. It is in any case a matter for 
consideration whether immediate steps 
should not be taken to grant further ad- 
vances to the present settlers in stock 
areas whose initial capital was small, 
even after augmentation in many cases 
by a departmental advance, or whose 
capital was dissipated in unsuccessful 
agricultural operations. If the farms 
could be stocked up to something ap- 
proaching their carrying capacity or at 
any rate to a stage when the settlers can 
see a greater propsect of success than 
many of them see to-day, it would give a 
stimulus to the permanency of the settle- 
ment undertaken and, in the long run, 
the payments to the department would 
be more certain. The losses should not 
be excessive as the departmental experi- 
ence over many years has been that the 
losses on breeding stock loans in recog- 
nized stock areas have been consistently 
low. 



Construction Program for 
Valley 



Seventy-four bales of Yuma cotton loaded on truck and trailer for Lcs Angeles Harbor 



It is estimated that the construction 
program for the Yakima Valley, Wash., 
for 1929 will total $10,000,000. In ad- 
dition to the expenditures of the Bureau 
of Reclamation for the Kittitas division 
and Cle Elum Dam, the Indian Service 
will complete the Wapato pumping unit 
at an estimated cost of $410,700; more 
than $1,500,000 will be spent on new 
work and maintenance of the State high- 
way units in the Yakima Valley and the 
Naches Pass route; and the county will 
spend $500,000 on roads. Paving in the 
city of Yakima will total $40,000, and 
commercial and general building will 
amount to $4,000,000. 



July, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



111 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



DR. ELWOOD MEAD, Commissioner 
of Reclamation, left for the West on 
June 12. After stopping at Denver and 
Salt Lake City, he and Chief Engineer 
Walter expect to meet Secretary Wilbur 
at Las Vegas, Nev., on June 22 for a trip 
to the Boulder Dam site. Doctor Mead 
will visit a number of projects and plans 
to return to the Washington office about 
August 1. P. W. Dent is acting com- 
missioner during his absence. 



George C. Kreutzer, director of recla- 
mation economics, and H. A. Brown, 
assistant director of reclamation econ- 
omics, left Washington, D. C., on June 
15 for Billings, Mont., where they will 
attend the economic conference on recla- 
mation June 18 and 19. Mr. Kreutzer will 
visit all the projects under investigation 
and expects to return to the Washing- 
ton office about August 1. Mr. Brown 
will visit the Shoshone, Riverton, and 
North Platte projects, returning to Wash- 
ington about the end of June. 



W. F. Kubach, chief accountant, left 
for the West on June 14. He will stop 
at the Denver office in connection with the 
preparation of material for the Budget 
and will also visit one or two projects 
before returning to Washington. 



In the absence of Doctor Mead in the 
West, Miss Mae A. Schnurr, secretary 
to the commissioner, will read his address 
on Community Small Farms before the 
twenty-second annual convention of the 
National Association of Real Estate 
Boards, at Boston, Mass., June 28. 



P. W. Dent, assistant commissioner of 
Reclamation, spent several days in Syra- 
cuse and Chicago in connection with 
hearings before the General Land Office 
on the adjustment of mining claims in 
Deadwood Reservoir. 



J. E. Stimson, still picture photographer 
of Cheyenne, Wyo., and George A. Beyer, 
motion picture photographer of the 
Washington office will visit the Boulder 
Dam site and a number of projects this 
summer with a view of obtaining a photo- 
graphic history of construction work and 
economic development. 



Dr. Taijiro Ikeda, chief engineer, 
Reclamation Affairs Bureau, Govern- 
ment-General of Chosen, Japan, was a 
recent visitor at the Washington office. 
Dr. Ikeda plans to visit a number of the 
projects during the summer. 



Fairfax D. Kirn, junior engineer on the 
North Platte project, has been transferred 
to the designing section of the Denver 
office. 



Two Monuments Unveiled 
on North Platte Project 

On May 26 exercises were held by the 
Daughters of the American Revolution 
on the North Platte project, Nebraska- 
Wyoming, for the unveiling of two monu- 
ments, one at the grave of Rebecca 
Winters, a pioneer mother who died while 
en route to Utah over the old Oregon 
Trail, and the other to commemorate the 
signing of the treaty with the Indians at 
Horse Creek. The principal speaker was 
Dr. Heber Grant, of Salt Lake City. 
Mrs. Grant is a granddaughter of Re- 
becca Winters. The program also in- 
cluded addresses by officials of the 
Burlington and Union Pacific Railroads 
and by officials of the Daughters of the 
American Revolution of the States of 
Wyoming and Nebraska. 



D. C. McConaughty, engineer, has 
been reinstated in the designing section of 
the Denver office. 



An engineering board consisting of con- 
sulting engineers A. J. Wiley and D. C. 
Henny, met recently with P. J. Preston, 
superintendent of the Yakima project, 
and J. L. Savage and B. W. Steels of the 
Denver office, at Cle Elum, Wash., to 
consider plans for a large dam on the Cle 
Elum River, which has been authorized 
by Congress. 



C. B. Smith, county agent of Morrow 
County, Oreg., was a recent visitor at the 
office of the West Extension Irrigation 
District, Umatilla project. 



I. M. Zaki, Assistant Director of Public 
Works for Egypt, who is spending con- 
siderable time in this country studying 
irrigation and related problems, spent 
four days on the Vale project inspecting 
irrigation works under construction. 



C. W. Burningham, assistant engineer, 
arrived on the Belle Fourche project 
recently to take up his duties in connec- 
tion with drainage construction and inves- 
tigations. 




Grave of Rebecca Winters, a pioneer mother who died on the Old Oregon Trail. Photo taken in 1921 on the 

North Platte project 



112 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



July, 1929 













1 


CIVIL ENGINEERINC 


Er.qmrrori Technical S'udi&r, 17 
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D.S. OOVEUNUBNTrBINTINQ OFF1CB: 12 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Jos. M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 
E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 
Northern! Ely and Ernest W. Sawyer, Executive Assistants 

Washinston, D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

MissM. A. Schnurr, Saoretary to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 

Denim, Colorado. Wilda BuilJlng 

R. F. Walter, Chief Enginsar; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Oftutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; C. A. 
Lyman, Field Representative. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 


Belle Fourche 


Newell, S. Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt 


J. P. Siebeneicher. . . 
W. L. Vernon 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


Wm. J. Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. . 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise ' . . 


Boise, Idaho 


R. J. Newell 




B. E. Stoutemyer,---- 
H. J. S. Devries 


Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N. Mex 
Grand Junction, Colo. 
Ballantine, Mont.. 


L. E. Foster.. 
J. C. Page . 


W. C. Berger 


W. C. Berger 


Grand Valley 


W. J. Chiesman 


W. J. Chiesman 


J. R. Alexander 


Huntley ! _ 








King Hill . 


King Hill, Idaho . 




1 


Klamath 


Klamath Falls, Oreg.. 
Savage, Mont 


H. D. Newell. 


N. G. Wheeler 


Joseph C. A very 


R. J. Coffey 


Lower Yellowstone 


H. A. Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann 


E. R. Scheppelmann- - 
E E Chabot 


E. E. Roddis 


Milk River 


Malta, Mont . 


H. H. Johnson - 


E. E. Chabot 


-do 




Burley, Idaho 


E. B. Darlington 


G. C. Patterson 


Miss A. J. Larson B. E. Stoutemyer 




Fallon, Nev . _ 






1 R. J. Coffey 


North Platte 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H. C. Stetson 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Virgil E. Hubbell Wm. J. Rurke 




Okanogan, Wash 








B. E. Stoutemyer 


Orland 


Orland, Calif 


R C E Weber 




C H Lillingston 


R J Cnffpv 


Owyhee 


Owyhee, Oreg _ 


F. A. Banks 


H. N. Bickel 


Frank P. Greene : B. E. StontRmver 


Rio Grande 


El Paso, Tex 


L. R. Fiock 


Henry H. Berryhill 


L. S. Kennicott 


H. J. S. Devries 


Riverton 


Riverton, Wyo 


H. D. Comstock 


R. B. Smith 


R. B. Smith 


Wm. J. Burke 


Salt River 8 


Phoenix. Ariz 










Shoshone B ! Powell. Wvo 


L. H. Mitchell . 


W. F. Sha 




E. E. Roddis 


Strawberry Valley '._- 
Sun River " 


Payson, Utah 










Fairfleld. Mont 


G. O. Sanford 


H. W. Johnson 


H. W. Johnson 


E. E. Roddis 


flrrieon. Oree... 












\Hermiston, Oreg 






| 


Montrose. Colo 


L. J. Foster 


G. H. Bolt 


F. D. Helm J. R. Alexander 


Vale Vale, Oreg 


H. W. Bashore 


C. M. Voyen 


C. M. Voyen 




Yakima Yakima, Wash 


P. J. Preston 


R. K. Cunningham 


J. C. Gawler 


do 




R. M. Priest 


H. R. Pasewalk 


E. M. Philebaum 


R. J. Coffey 









Large Construction Work 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo 


Coalville, Utah 


F. F. Smith ' . 


C. F. Williams 








Dam. 
Kittitas 


Ellensburg, Wash 


Walker R. Young 13 


E. R. Mills 




B. E. Stoutemyer 










F C Lewis 


F C Lewis 


E E Roddis 




Dam. 


Fairfleld, Mont . 


A. W. Walker 






do 


Do 


Construction. 















1 Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise- Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1, 1926. 

' Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1927. E. E. Lewis, manager. 

3 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1928. 
F. L. Kinkade, manager. 

1 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation Dis- 
trict on Apr. 1, 1925, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District on 
Dec. 2, 1916. 

5 Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1926. D. S. Stuver, manager. 

Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928, and Northport Division by North- 
port Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



' Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1923 . 
Joe C. Iddings, manager. 

s Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. C. C. Cragin, general superintendent and chief engineer. 

' Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

10 Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. Lee R. Taylor, manager. 

11 Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

n Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926. A. C. Houghton, manager; and East Division by Hermiston Irriga- 
tion District informally on July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 192, 
Enos D. Martin, manager. 

13 Construction engineer. 



Important Investigations in Progress 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 






H J Gault 




Paradise- Verde district investigations . 


Phoenix, Ariz _ 


J. R. lakisch 


Salt River Vallev Water Users' Association 


Heart Mountain investigations 


Powell, Wyo 


I. B. Hosig 




Utah investigations 


Salt Lake City, Utah 


E. O. Larson 


State of Utah. 


Truckee River investigations 


Fallon, Nev 


A. W. Walker 




Yakima project extensions 


Yakima, Wash 


P. J. Preston 




Alcova-Casper and Saratoga projects 


Casper, Wyo 


J. R. lakisch 













HUGH A. BROWN, Editor 




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TsTEW 

RECLAMATION 



ERA 



VOL. 20 



AUGUST, 1929 



NO. 8 







1 



THE DESERT RECLAIMED 



Benefits from Crop Rotation 

By DR. GEO. STEWART 

IHE feeding range of plants is changed. 
Minor changes are made in the plant nutrients. 
Residues of preceding crop may benefit succeeding ones. 
Available soil nitrogen may be considerably increased. 
The supply of organic material may be increased. 
The physical condition of the soil may be improved. 

Opportunities for utilizing farm manure and commercial 
fertilizers. 

The soil is kept occupied with crops a major part of the 
time. 

It may reduce injury from insects, weeds, and diseases. 
The farmer can farm more acres under crop rotation. 

Farm machinery and other equipment can be used more 
efficiently. 

Irrigation water can be made to care for more crop acres. 

The income is mort dependable on account of its arising 
from several sources. 

Western Irrigation. 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price, 75 cento a year 



RAY LYMAN WILBUR 

Secretary of the Interior 



KLWOOD MEAD 

, Bureau of fUoUnution 



Vol. 20 



August, 1929 



No. 8 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Irrigation Projects 



FARMERS in the Langell Valley dis- 
trict, Klamath project, have organized 
the Langell Valley Dairy Association and 
have begun the erection of a cheese factory 
near Lorella, Oreg. 



CONSTRUCTION now under way on 
the Yakima project will increase the 
cold storage capacity of the valley from 
9,410 cars to 10,550 cars, and common 
storage from 5,784 cars to 5,884 cars, at 
a cost of approximately $500,000. 



^ 1 ^HE poison campaign is still being 
JL waged against grasshoppers in the 
Tule Lake division of the Klamath proj- 
ect, and the outlook for the control of the 
pest is the best it has been during the past 
eight years. Very little damage to crops 
has been reported. 



/^OUNTY officials are taking steps to 
V_>< proceed with the taking of tax titles 
to about 25 Belle Fourche project farms 
that are more or less abandoned, and it 
is expected that these places will pass into 
the hands of real farmers when title is 
cleared. Similar action will be continued 
until the entire lot of about 100 farms 
that are delinquent in both taxes and 
water charges gradually comes into pos- 
session of the county and in this way 
made available for better production. 



\ CARLOAD of Guernsey cattle was 
_/~\. purchased recently in Wisconsin and 
has arrived in Belle Fourche for distribu- 
tion to project farmers and others inter- 
ested in this breed of dairy cow. 



ENCOURAGING reports are being 
received from the colonization agent 
employed by the Northern Pacific and 
Great Northern Railway Cos. to locate 
settlers for the Lower Yellowstone project. 
Two farms were sold recently to settlers 
from Colorado and a large number of men 
have expressed their intention to look over 
the project at an early date. 

6185529 



IT is estimated by the Denver & Rio 
Grande Western Railway that 1,600 
cars of peaches will be shipped from the 
Grand Valley project this season. This 
is the heaviest crop of peaches produced 
in several years. 



Secretary Wilbur Visits 
Our Projects 

Hon. Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secre- 
tary of the Interior, has returned to 
Washington after a month's trip 
through the West, during which he 
inspected the site of Boulder dam in 
Black Canyon near Las Vegas, Ne- 
vada, in company with Dr. Elwood 
Mead, Commissioner of Reclama- 
tion, and R. F. Walter, Chief 
Engineer. 

Plans were outlined for the devel- 
opment of a railway line to the dam, 
the building of a community for the 
engineers and workmen near the 
damsite, and conferences were held 
with representatives of the various 
States and municipalities and power 
companies interested in the contract 
for the sale of power which must be 
let before actual work upon the 
structure is begun. The Secretary 
announced the policy of preferring 
to sell falling water as the basis of 
such contract. 

With Dr. Mead and Mr. Walter, 
the Secretary also visited the Owyhee 
project, in eastern Oregon and west- 
ern Idaho; the Boise project, the 
Gooding project, and the Minidoka 
project, in Idaho. At Boise he 
addressed a meeting of Governors 
and the representatives of Governors 
of Western States on the subject of 
public lands, proposing a new policy 
for the turning over of the surface 
rights of the public domain to the 
various States, provided they were 
willing to accept responsibility and 
to enact necessary legislation con- 
cerning parks, grazing, and conser- 
vation of water. 



AC 1 THE Owyhee Dam, Owyhee proj- 
ect, work proceeded on the lining of 
the remainder of the diversion and spill- 
way tunnel, on the excavation of the abut- 
ments for the dam, and on the removal of 
muck from the river channel. At the end 
of the month the dam was 14 per cent 
completed. 



THE Holly Sugar Corporation has 
announced that the Grand Junction 
factory, Grand Valley project, will not be 
operated in 1929, requiring shipment of 
all beets to Delta. The small tonnage ex- 
pected is given as the reason for the sus- 
pension of the factory. 



FOUR cars of lambs were sold recently 
by the Minidoka Lamb Pool, Mini- 
doka project, for $12.85 per 100 pounds, 
or an average price of $10.85 per head. 
One shipment of 21 lambs was the prod- 
uct of 12 ewes. Their total weight was 
1,950 pounds, or an average of 93 pounds, 
so that at the price named each ewe's 
product was worth more than $20. 



A[" Echo Dam, Salt Lake Basin proj- 
ect, the dam fill placed during the 
month amounted to 95,410 cubic yards, 
and work was continued on stripping 
borrow pit areas and the dam foundation. 
At the end of the month the dam was 39.8 
per cent completed. 



A FORMAL opening was held recently 
of the Gering cheese factory and 
centralizing plant of the North Platte Val- 
ley Cooperative Cheese Co., North Platte 
project. About 1,200 people attended the 
opening. 

IT is anticipated that 800 tons of green 
beans, 100 tons of wax beans, 300 tons 
of table beets, and 100 tons of sour cher- 
ries will be canned at the Delta Canning 
Factory, Uncompahgre project, this sea- 
son. The producers in this district will 
receive about $60,000 for these products. 

113 



114 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 



President 'Hoover Issues Proclamation Making Effective the Boulder 
Canyon Project Act of December 2 1 , 1928 



ON June 25, 1929, President Hoover 
issued the following public proc- 
lamation : 

"Pursuant to the provisions of section 
4 (a) of the Boulder Canyon project act 
approved December 21, 1928 (45 Stat. 
1057), it is hereby declared by public 
proclamation: 

"(a) That the States of Arizona, Cal- 
ifornia, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, 
Utah, and Wyoming have not ratified the 
Colorado River compact mentioned in 
section 13 (a) of said act of Decmber 21, 
1928, within six months from the date of 
the passage and approval of said act. 

"(b) That the States of California, 
Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, 
and Wyoming have ratified said compact 
and have consented to waive the pro- 
visions of the first paragraph of Article 
XI of said compact, which makes the 
same binding and obligatory only when 
approved by each of the seven States 
signatory thereto, and that each of the 
States last named has approved said 
compact without condition, except that 
of six-State approval as prescribed in 
section 13 (a) of said act of December 21, 
1928. 

" (c) That the State of California has in 
all things met the requirements set out in 
the first paragraph of section 4 (a) of said 
act of December 21, 1928, necessary to 



render said act effective on six-State 
approval of said compact. 

"(d) All prescribed conditions having 
been fulfilled, the said Boulder Canyon 
project act approved December 21, 1928, 
is hereby declared to be effective this date. 

"In testimony whereof I have hereunto 
set my hand and caused the seal of the 
United States of America to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington this 
25th day of June, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand nine hundred and twenty- 
nine, and of the Independence of the 
United States of America the one hundred 
and fifty-third. 

[SEAL.] "HERBERT HOOVER. 

" By the President: 

"HENRY L. STIMSON, 

"Secretary of State." 

PRESIDENT HOOVERS STATEMENT 

"I signed this morning the Colorado 
River proclamation, making effective the 
compact between six of the seven States 
in the Colorado River Basin. I have a 
particular interest in its consummation, 
not only because of its great intrinsic 
importance, but because I was the chair- 
man of the Colorado River Commission 
that formulated the compact. 

"The compact itself relates entirely to 
the distribution of water rights between 
the seven States in the basin. It has 




Concrete canal Hnlng (concrete placed by hand), South Branch Canal, Klttltas division, Yaklma project, 

Washington 



nothing per se to do with the Boulder 
Canyon development except that it re- 
moves the barriers to such development. 
"It has some points of very considera- 
ble interest. 

"SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES 

"It is the final settlement of disputes 
that have extended over 25 years and 
which have estopped the development of 
the river. The difficulties over the re- 
spective water rights of the different 
States have served to prevent develop- 
ment in a large way for nearly a quarter 
of a century. 

"And it has an interest also in that it 
is the most extensive action ever taken 
by a group of States under the provisions 
of the Constitution permitting compacts 
between States. The only instances 
hitherto were mostly minor compacts be- 
tween two States on boundary questions 
except the one case of the New York Port 
Authority, which was of first importance, 
but is a compact between two States. 

"This compact is, however, an agree- 
ment between seven States, and repre- 
sents the most important action ever 
taken in that fashion under the Constitu- 
tion. It opens the avenue for some hope 
of the settlement of other regional ques- 
tions as between the States rather than 
the imposition of these problems on the 
Federal Government. 

"The compact was originally signed 
five years ago by the seven States subject 
to ratification by their legislatures. It 
has a similarity to matters in interna- 
tional negotiation in the difficulties that 
it has to pursue in the path of ultimate 
consummation, but for the first time in 
history a compact involving so many in- 
terests has been made effective. 

"There is only one point still left open, 
and that is the relation of Arizona to the 
compact. I am in hopes that Arizona 
and California may compose their mutual 
problems which have hitherto prevented 
Arizona from joining in the compact. 

"With Arizona in, the whole basin will 
have settled the major question of water 
rights for all time." 



THE contract has been let for a 
$10,000 alfalfa seed warehouse and 
laboratory to be erected near the Southern 
Pacific tracks on the outskirts of Yuina, 
Yuma project. Work will be rushed so 
that the structure may be completed 
before the peak of the local alfalfa seed 
threshing season. 



August, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



115 



Economic Survey of Reclamation, 1929 



THE conference of participants and 
others interested in the economic 
survey of certain reclamation proj- 
ects this summer was held at Billings, 
Mor.t., June 18 and 19, for an open dis- 
cussion of the scope and method of the 
survey. The investigators were informed 
that their examination should be directed 
with a view to obtaining information 
which would enable them to submit 
conclusions and recommendations regard- 
ing the following classes of projects: 

1. Projects which are largely unde- 
veloped and unirrigated after several 
years of operation. 

2. Projects now being constructed 
where the acre cost of water is so high as 
to raise a question of the ability of settlers 
to meet payments required by the district 
contract. Consideration should be given 
to the steps needed to promote early and 
complete settlement and the largest 
return from irrigation. 

3. Private projects which desire finan- 
cial aid from the Government should be 
studied to determine whether the money 
required for reconstruction and improve- 
ment can be repaid under the terms of 
the reclamation act. 

The 2-day session of the conference 
was devoted to a discussion of the follow- 
ing specific questions: 

1. Have the economic and social 
benefits of this project justified its con- 
struction? 

2. What are its opportunities and what 
ought to be done to enable these oppor- 
tunities to be fully utilized? What are 
its profitable crops and what kind of 
agriculture ought to be promoted? 

3. How much of the unsettled, unde- 
veloped land is sufficiently productive to 
justify settlement under present agricul- 
tural conditions? What should be done 
with the unproductive land? 

4. How far has delayed settlement been 
affected by 

(a) Defects in soil? 

(6) Climatic conditions? 

(c) Remoteness from developed 

communities and lack of 
markets? 

(d) Lack of capital on part of 

settlers? 

(e) Amount of water charges? 
(/) Local taxation? 

(g) Lack of credit? 

(ft) Health conditions, insect pests, 
and plant and animal dis- 
eases? 

5. Can the irrigation payments re- 
quired under present conditions be made 
by the people now on the project? What 
is being done and what should be done to 
insure the settlement and cultivation of 
land delinquent in State and county 



taxes and irrigation charges? Should 
the Bureau of Reclamation be given 
authority to acquire title to land through 
purchase of tax certificates and thus 
become an active settlement agency? 

6. If more construction work is asked 
for by the project water users, what 
will it cost? Is it needed and will it be 
paid for in accordance with the reclama- 
tion act? 

7. How much capital is required to 
purchase a farm of unimproved land and 
bring it to full production? How much 
of this capital should a new settler possess 
at time of settlement? How much credit 
is required and upon what terms? 

8. If the settler's capital needs to be 
supplemented to improve and equip farms, 
where can credit for this be now obtained 
and what additional credit should be 
provided? What agency should furnish 
this credit? 

9. Beet-sugar companies assign from 6 
to 12 experienced field men to the territory 
served by each factory to assist farmers in 
selecting fields to grow beets, give advice 
in preparing seed bed, and other farm 
operations. This assures good farm prac- 
tice and has increased the average yields 
of beets. This is regarded as a profitable 
expenditure on the part of the sugar- 
factory management. The Bureau of 
Reclamation has a great deal more at 
stake. Should it render a similar service 
to assist settlers in working out farm pro- 
grams and in the organization of coopera- 
tive marketing agencies? The bureau has 
been unable to do this, because the expense 
would have to be met by increased charges 
to settlers. The Agricultural Department 
can render such a service because it is 
provided with funds which do not have to 



be repaid. Should not the Bureau of Rec- 
lamation be given funds on the same terms 
or, if not, should not the operation of 
projects and responsibility of collecting 
the money due the Government be turned 
over to others? 

10. Would there be any gain to the 
settlers and to the income from projects 
if the works when constructed were turned 
over to the State for settlement and 
development and for the repayment to 
the Government of the construction 
debt? 

11. Recommendations should be made 
regarding any changes in laws or practices 
of the bureau or of the settlers which the 
investigator believes should be carried out. 

George C. Kreutzer, director of recla- 
mation economics, presided as chairman of 
the conference, with H. A. Brown, assist- 
ant director of reclamation economics, 
serving as secretary. The following were 
in attendance: 

George C. Kreutzer, director of recla- 
mation economics, Bureau of Reclama- 
tion, Washington, D. C. 

Hugh A. Brown, assistant director of 
reclamation economics, Bureau of Recla- 
mation, Washington, D. C. 

B. E. Hayden, reclamation economist, 
Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colo. 

W. W. Johnston, associate reclama- 
tion economist, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Denver, Colo. 

H. D. Comstock, superintendent, River- 
ton, project, Riverton, Wyo. 

L. H. Mitchell, superintendent, Sho- 
shone project, Powell, Wyo. 

H. H. Johnson, superintendent, Milk 
River project, Malta, Mont. 

George O. Sanford, superintendent, Sun 
River project, Fairfield, Mont. 




Earl, Wilmer, Frances, and Ruth Thornberry, Just arrived from Missouri to live on a new homestead on the 
Ulwood division of the Shoshone project, Wyoming 



116 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 




The adobe borne of a new settler on the WiUwood division, Shoshone project, Wyoming 



Alvin Johnson, economic expert, New 
York City. 

Prof. Frank Adams, economic expert, 
University of California Berkeley, Calif. 

Dorothy Lampen, special economic 
investigator, Great Falls, Mont. 

A. C. Cooley, senior agriculturist in 
charge of demonstration on reclamation 
projects, Salt Lake City. 

Alfred Atkinson, president Montana 
State College, Bozeman, Mont. 

F. B. Linfield, director Montana Exper- 
iment Station, Bozeman, Mont. 

Sherman E. Johnson, associate profes- 
sor of agricultural economics, Montana 
State College, Bozeman, Mont. 

James McKittrick, engineer-appraiser, 
Federal Land Bank, Spokane, Wash. 

John A. Whiting, state engineer of 
Wyoming, Cheyenne, Wyo. 

D. P. Fabrick, manager, Western Agri- 
cultural Co., Billings, Mont. 

W. P. Hogarty, manager Amalgamated 
Sugar Co., Missoula, Mont. 

E. C. Leedy, general agricultural 
development agent, Great Northern Rail- 
way Co., St. Paul, Minn. 

Charles D. Greenfield, agricultural 
development agent, Great Northern Rail- 
way Co., Helena, Mont. 

E. B. Duncan, Agricultural develop- 
ment agent, Great Northern Railway 
Co., Havre, Mont. 

John W. Haw, director, department of 
agricultural development, Northern 
Pacific Railway Co., St. Paul, Minn. 

L. A. Campbell, agricultural develop- 
ment agent, Northern Pacific Railway 
Co., Missoula, Mont. 

Irving J. Courtice, agricultural develop- 
ment agent, Northern Pacific Railway, 
Billings, Mont. 

W. J. Hunt, assistant to director, agri- 
cultural development department, North- 
ern Pacific Railway, St. Paul, Minn. 



Val Kuska, colonization agent, Chicago* 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co., 
Omaha, Nebr. 

H. L. Ford, agricultural development 
agent, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad Co., Chicago, 111. 

Evan W. Hall, agricultural supervisor, 
Miles City, Mont., Chicago, Milwaukee, 
St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. 

Arthur C. Smith, assistant to the 
supervisor of agriculture, Union Pacific 
system, 114 Union Pacific Building, 
Omaha, Nebr. 

I. D. O'Donnell, farmer, Billings, Mont. 

Elaine Ferguson, agriculturist, Valier, 
Mont. 

W. L. Murphy, Missoula Chamber of 
Commerce, Missoula, Mont. 

Damon Boynton, Mystic, Conn. 

C. B. Trowbridge, field representative 
of the Department of the Interior, Denver, 
Colo. 

Following the Billings conference the 
investigators went immediately to their 
assigned projects, as follows: 



Dr. Alvin Johnson: Riverton and 
Northport division of the North Platte 
project. 

Prof. Frank Adams: Shasta View and 
Malin districts of Klamath and Orchard 
Mesa division of Grand Valley project. 

A. C. Cooley: Owyhee project. 

G. O. Sanford: Lower Yellowstone and 
Bitter Root. 

L. H. Mitchell: Milk River. 

H. H. Johnson: Sun River. 

W. W. Johnston and B. E. Stoutemyer: 
Gem, Emmett, and King Hill. 

B. E. Hayden: Willwood division of 
Shoshone project. 

These investigators were assisted in 
their work by representatives of the State 
agricultural colleges, other State officials, 
the Federal land banks, bankers, sugar 
company officials, and railroads. Each 
investigator was instructed that at the 
conclusion of his investigation, and before 
returning to his home, he should tabulate 
the data gathered by him, formulate his 
conclusions, and forward them to H. A. 
Brown, secretary of the survey, at Wash- 
ington, D. C., all reports to be in the 
Washington office not later than Au- 
gust 1. 

A committee to review and correlate 
these individual reports will meet probably 
in Washington, D. C., not later than 
September, composed of the following: 
George C. Kreutzer, director of reclama- 
tion economics, chairman; Dr. Alvin John- 
son; Prof. Frank Adams; A. C. Cooley; 
J. W. Haw; and H. A. Brown. 

This committee will draw up a report 
and their conclusions based on the indi- 
vidual reports submitted by the investi- 
gators. This report will then be mimeo- 
graphed and sent to each investigator for 
comment. Upon the return of these 
comments the final report will be drafted 
for submission to the Secretary of the 
Interior. 




.-l :* ' . 

' -' " - ' ' '-'''' -- - ~^-^ 




Willwood diversion dam, Willwood division, Shoshone project, Wyoming 



August, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



117 



Regulations Concerning Sheep Grazing Permits on the Riverton Project, 

Wyoming 



THE following letter to the Secretary 
of the Interior from the Commis- 
sioner of the Indian Service relating to 
sheep-grazing permits on the Riverton 
project, Wyoming, was concurred in by 
the Acting Commissioner of Reclamation 
and approved on July 3, by the First 
Assistant Secretary: 

JULY 3, 1929. 

The honorable the SECRETARY OP THE 
INTERIOR. 

MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: As a'result 
of several informal conferences between 
representatives of the Indian Service and 
representatives of the Reclamation Serv- 
ice, it has been agreed that in order to 
make the lands under the Riverton irriga- 
tion project on the Shoshone Indian 
reservation attractive to settlers, the 
Indian Service will arrange, so far as 
practicable, for bona fide settlers to 
obtain grazing privileges on the adjoining 
Indian lands, provided such privileges 
can be granted without prejudice to the 
interests of the Indians and that such 
privileges be paid for at the prevailing rate. 

Pursuant to this understanding and 
based on the assurance of the Riverton 
project officials that such territory would 
be satisfactory and sufficient for the needs 
of bona fide settlers for the next several 
years or until October 1, 1933, the grazing 
range known as No. 19 was advertised 
last fall for a diminishing permit. This 
range is occupied by the Yellowstone 
Sheep Co. It practically surrounds that 
part of the Riverton project to which 
water can now be delivered, hence grazing 
within its boundaries would be accessible 
to the settlers under proper permit. 

The Yellowstone Sheep Co. submitted 
the only bid received and was awarded 
the permit. The permit provides for a 
reduction in number of sheep grazed by 
that company to such extent as may be 
necessary in order to accommodate the 
sheep or other stock of bona fide settlers, 
provided that notice be given the com- 
pany not less than two months prior to 
October 1 of any given year. 

In order that grazing privileges may 
be properly granted under the arrange- 
ment outlined above, it is recommended 
that the following requirements or regula- 
tions be approved and promulgated: 

1. The applicant must be a bona fide 
settler on irrigated lands within the 
Riverton project, either as the owner of 
such lands or as a bona fide lessee of such 
lands. 

2. He must live upon and cultivate such 
lands. 

3. An owner of irrigated land who lives 
elsewhere and employs another person to 



live on and cultivate the lands will not be 
considered as a bona fide settler. 

4. A tenant actually living upon and 
cultivating leased irrigated lands may be 
granted grazing privileges, provided his 
lease or contract with the owner of such 
land does not provide for a share of the 
stock; and such tenant or lessee will be 
required to file with the superintendent 
of the reservation a copy of the lease or 
agreement under which the tenancy is held. 

5. Any actual settler who homesteaded 
lands on the ceded portion of the Shoshone 
Reservation prior to the construction of the 
Riverton project and whose homesteaded 
lands lie within that portion of the pro- 
ject to which water is being delivered may 
be granted grazing privileges to such ex- 
tent as his acreage with water right may 
warrant. 

6. The number and kind of stock which 
may be grazed by a settler will be deter- 
mined by the superintendent of the reser- 
vation after conference with the superin- 
tendent of the Riverton irrigation project, 
and in arriving at conclusions as to the 
number and kind of stock in any given in- 
stance the determining factor shall be the 
livestock needs of the applicant for the 
consumption of such products of the unit 
or farm as can be more profitably fed 
to stock than marketed in any other way, 
the purpose being to provide sufficient 
grazing to supplement the feed raised by 
the applicant up to such limit as the pro- 
portion of the acreage of farmed irrigated 
lands to the acreage of Indian lands avail- 
able for grazing will allow. 



7. The superintendent of the Shoshone 
Reservation shall notify the regular per- 
mittee, on range 19, on or before August 
1 of each year, of the proposed reduction 
in number of stock to be run by him under 
his permit. 

8. Permits issued under these regula- 
tions will be at the same rate for sheep aa 
now paid by the Yellowstone Sheep Co., 
viz, 40 cents per head per year. For 
domestic or farm cattle, including farm 
horses, the rate shall be $2 per year. 

9. Permits must be completed and filed 
with the superintendent of the Shoshone 
Reservation not later than September 1 of 
the year the permit becomes effective. 

10. Payments shall be made semian- 
nually in advance and any permit in which 
the grazing fees amount to more than $100 
a year must be accompanied by a satis- 
factory bond. 

11. All permits issued under these reg- 
ulations must be written to expire not 
later than September 30, 1933, to conform 
to the expiration date of existing permits 
on the ceded portion of the reservation, 
and be submitted for departmental approv- 
al in the usual way. 

Respectfully, 

C. J. RHOADS, 

Commissioner. 
JULY 3, 1929. 

The Reclamation Service concurs. 
P. W. DENT. 
Acting Commissioner. 
Approved July 3, 1929. 

Jos. M. DIXON. 
First Assistant Secretary. 




Gibson dam, Sun River project, Montana, nearing completion 



118 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 



Progress of the West Requires Federal Reclamation 



WE are in the midst of an irrigation 
project built with funds derived 
from the sale of public lands in 16 West- 
ern States and with the royalties received 
from oil, gas, coal, and phosphates pro- 
duced on lands owned by the United 
States. The building of irrigation works 
by the Federal Government involves the 
question of internal improvements super- 
vised or entirely controlled as a Federal 
institution. All Government moneys ex- 
pended for internal improvements, ex- 
cept that for irrigation, are lost to the 
Federal Treasury. The reclamation fund 
is obtained from the sale of Government 
property in the States where irrigation 
expenditures are made and from repay- 
ments by the farmers on the projects. No 
money comes from the general fund of 
the Treasury. In 25 years the expendi- 
tures made from the reclamation fund by 
the Federal Government have made 
arable a large area of waste desert land, 
and have made possible the building of 
50,000 homes. 

It is being oft repeated that there is a 
surplus of farm products, and that any 
attempt to increase production by in- 
creasing the arable area is inadvisable. 
Whether the United States has a surplus 
of farm products is an important ques- 
tion from a governmental standpoint, 
because it is lending its aid to the extent 
of about $10,000,000 a year to increase 
the area that can be cultivated in the 
arid regions of the 17 Western States. 
This is a small sum, and results are not 
accomplished for many years. 

During and immediately following the 
Ch il War, agricultural and other develop- 
ments west of the Mississippi River were 
rapid. The vast area of rich farm lands 
in States like Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, 
Kansas, and Oklahoma were settled and 
came into cultivation. The advance 
guard of this settlement reached the arid 
plains in the early eighties, and was 
driven back by years of drouth. Some of 
the pioneers passing on into the mountain 
region began the development of irrigation. 
When the small private irrigation sys- 
tems had been developed to the fullest 
extent practicable, corporations supplied 
money for building; then the Carey Act 
was passed, which permitted the use of 
the Government land as security for bond 
issues, and the failure of this development 
led to passing the reclamation act on 
June 17, 1902, thus admitting that Federal 
aid and development were necessary for 
the continuation of the increase in areas 
that could be used for the successful culti- 
vation of crops in the Western States. 



By E. E. RoJJis, District Counsel, Billings, Mont. 

As early as 1877 Congress had recog- 
nized the necessity of making it easy for 
individuals to secure land and place it 
under irrigation and cultivation; when it 
passed the desert land act. This per- 
mitted a man to obtain 320 acres of Gov- 
ernment land, and by bringing water upon 
the land secure title. The act was an 
adjunct to the homestead law of 1862, 
under which the settlement of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley took place. 

The reclamation fund is revolving; 
that is, landowners whose lands are irri- 
gated must repay the cost of the construc- 
tion of the irrigation system benefiting 
their lands. Thus money invested in a 
project is repaid and the returned money 
is invested in other projects. About 
$200,000,000 has been expended on 28 
projects, and considerable has been writ- 
ten about the sum that has been lost or 
written off. The present estimate of 
losses from projects that were not success- 
ful and from those projects that are not 
repaying as anticipated is about $10,000,- 
000. Five per cent of the invested 
capital may be lost, which is a very small 
proportion when you consider the 
newness and uncertainties of the ven- 
ture. 

Recent legislation has developed plans 
for returning to the fund the net earnings 
of power plants made possible by storage 
of water, which will in a few years go a 
long ways towards repaying the losses 
now estimated. 

In the development of irrigation works 
on a large scale, storage of water is neces- 
sary, because the natural flow of many of 
the streams in the Western States is al- 
ready over appropriated. The govern- 
ment is required, therefore, to seek out 
feasible reservoir sites and store water for 
its irrigation needs. Storage water de- 
velops a possibility of the generation of 
electrical energy. It is in most instances 
a by-product of irrigation construction. 
On all projects where electrical develop- 
ment was possible, the power plants have 
been constructed primarily for power to 
be used in building the irrigation works. 
Electrically operated machinery has prov- 
en to be economical and successful. It 
has tended to reduce the cost of the works 
which must be repaid by the farmers on 
the projects. After the construction 
work, is completed, the electric power is a 
by-product, which usually can be dis- 
posed of to commercial enterprises in the 
vicinity or to the farmers for use on their 
farms. The Minidoka project is an out- 
standing example of the use of cheap 
electricity by famers. It betters the liv- 



ing conditions of the settlers and increases 
the commercial activities in general. 

If this part of the country is to advance 
someone must continue to build. Irri- 
gation systems and cultivated farms can 
not be created in a day. The building 
of irrigation works is so extensive and 
return of funds so slow that only an 
institution representing all the people 
can finance the work. In the train of this 
financing and building goes the con- 
struction of roads, commercial enter- 
prises, school houses, churches, and 
other enterprises which you see in the 
vicinity. 

The statement has been made recently 
that there is an excess of production of 
farm products, but to demonstrate that 
this is true only of a very few products 
your attention is called to the fact that 
outside of wheat and potatoes most of the 
other products which are consumed are 
relatively high priced. Fat cattle are 
selling for $15.50 per hundredweight in 
Chicago; hogs, $11 per hundredweight; 
sheep, $17 per hundredweight; bacon 
retails at 50 cents per pound; beef, 40 
cents per pound; and similar prices can 
be quoted throughout the entire category 
of farm products. But we must have a 
surplus of materials and food supplies. 
We need a surplus of good things and by 
this token we are guaranteed against 
suffering and want. In China famine 
destroys a million or two, and thus 
balances consumption with produc- 
tion. 

The irrigation projects are consumers 
more than producers. The settlement 
is being built up at the cost of production 
from the irrigated area, and much of the 
supplies must come from outside sources. 
Building material, for instance, is ob- 
tained from the west coast; wire, hard- 
ware, furniture, automobiles come from 
the East; and the commerce of the 
Nation is increased from every stand- 
point. Very few of the products of the 
irrigated section come in competition 
with farm products of other areas in the 
United States. Beet sugar, wool, butter, 
eggs, cream, seed beans, peas, alfalfa seed, 
and similar products are imported, 
because there is not a sufficient supply in 
the United States, or because other areas 
can not produce enough to supply the 
demand. The area cultivated and planted 
to wheat is negligible, because it is not a 
profitable crop under irrigation. Corn is 
not raised to any material extent. Alfalfa 
is fed to stock which goes to a market 
that must be supplied to some extent by 
importations from foreign lands. 



August, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



119 



Good statesmanship demands a looking 
into the future to build up our food 
supplies for a much larger population. 
If we must curtail production, reduce or 
eliminate the appropriations for the 
Interior and Agriculture Departments, 
and stop the increase in area of tillable 
land, let the corn borer eat the excess corn; 
the black rust and smut reduce the wheat 
yield; the boll weevil the surplus cotton; 
the blackleg the cattle; the hog cholera, 
the hogs; and in a few short years we 
would have want and famine stalking in 
our byways. 

From a national standpoint, the human 
side of irrigation work is more interesting 
and important than the commercial 
business created by it. The farm home, 
and it might be added the home in the 
small town, is the foundation of the most 
conservative population of the country, 
and the numbers should be increased. 
On the irrigation projects and in their 
vicinity lack of employment and want 
are unknown. 

When war was declared in 1917 the 
Shoshone project, on which there was no 
habitation before the construction began 
in 1904, furnished for the United States 
199 soldiers for the Army and 8 for the 
Navy. It might be of interest in con- 
nection with this statement to mention 
the fact that the first woman to enter the 
Army service during the World War 
from Wyoming was from the Shoshone 
project. Three hundred and twelve thou- 
sand dollars' worth of Liberty Bonds was 
subscribed by the residents of this 
vicinity, and the Red Cross subscriptions 
and subscriptions of other war activities 
exceeded $25,000. Of the men enlisted, 
two were killed in action and one man 
was wounded. 

Whether irrigation in the West shall 
decrease or increase is a matter for 
consideration of statesmen. Statesman- 
ship is an attribute which compels looking 
into the future not the future of the 
individual but the future of the Nation. 
Consideration should not be given to the 
present-day needs, for we know they are 
ample now in nearly every branch of 
human endeavor in the United States, 
but the future of a fast-growing Republic 
requires that some one shall look ahead to 
view the affairs of the Nation in 10, 50, or 
a hundred years hence. This is not a 
function of the politician or the man 
engaged in the scramble for dollars; it is 
the work of statesmen. 



f I ^HE Amalgamated Sugar Co. is pre- 
JL paring the Burley factory, Minidoka 
project, for a 100-day run next fall. In 
1928 the run lasted less than 30 days. 



Cement Association Conducts Lecture Course 
at Denver Office 



REPRESENTATIVES of the Chicago 
office of the Portland Cement As- 
sociation conducted a series of lectures 
on concrete at the Denver office of the 
Bureau of Reclamation during the after- 
noons and evenings of June 3 and 4, 1929. 
Several of the lectures were illustrated by 
lantern slides, and some were accom- 
panied by actual demonstrations of the 
principles involved in mixing concrete 
of proper consistency and workability. 
The program was as follows: 



Warning Notice For 
Boulder Canyon Land 

The General Land Office is cooperat- 
ing with the Bureau of Reclamation 
in posting the following notice at 
numerous pointt in the vicinity of 
Boulder Dam site and on the public 
land that will eventually be irrigated 
from the constructed works: 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 
THE INTERIOR 

NOTICE 

Notice is hereby given that the 
public lands withdrawn in connection 
with the Boulder or Black Canyon 
Dam and reclamation project are 
not subject to settlement, applica- 
tion, or any form of appropriation. 
Therefore, any person performing 
any act of appropriation or settle- 
ment on any of the land so with- 
drawn will gain no rights by such 
unlawful act, but will be considered 
a trespasser and dealt with accord- 
ingly. 

C. C. M.OOKE, 

Commissioner 
General Land Office. 
ELWOOD MEAD, 

Commissioner 
Bureau of Reclamation. 



MONDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 3, 2 P. M. TO 5 P. M. 

The fundamentals of concrete mixtures, by F. B. 
McMillan. 

Trial method of designing concrete mixtures, calcu- 
lation of yield by absolute volumes, and demonstration 
of bulking of sand, by R. S. Phillips. 

MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 3, 7.30 P. M. TO 10.30 P. M. 

Volume changes of concrete and mortar, by M. B- 
Lagaard. 
Field control methods, by R S Phillies. 



TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 4, 2 P. M. TO S P. M. 

Effects of factors other than proportioning on quality 
of concrete, by R. S. Phillips. 
Round table discussion. 

TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 4, 7.30 P. M. TO 10 P. M. 

Durability of concrete structures, by F. R. McMillan 

The lectures and discussions covered 
many of the important factors involved 
in the production of strong, durable, 
water-tight concrete. Some of the 
factors discussed were the physical prop- 
erties of cement, water-cement ratio, 
gradation of aggregates, methods of 
curing, use of admixtures, use of patented 
curing systems, and effect of variations 
in time of mixing. The quality of the 
cement paste was emphasized as the most 
important single factor in securing first- 
class concrete, and the curing of the con- 
crete of next importance, assuming aggre- 
gates of satisfactory strength to be avail- 
able. It was shown that variations in 
the water-cement ratio might cause 
variations of 50 to 100 per cent in the 
strength of the concrete; whereas vari- 
ations in the proportions of the aggre- 
gates, using the same cement paste, would 
not cause variations of more than 10 to 15 
per cent in the strength. A detailed 
report on the lectures and discussions 
is being prepared and copies will be for- 
warded to the various offices of the bureau 
as soon as available. 

The lectures were attended by approxi- 
mately 60 engineers, including the staff 
of the Denver office of the Portland 
Cement Association, the staff of the 
Denver office of the Bureau of Standards, 
several members of the engineering 
faculty of the University of Colorado, 
Construction Engineer F. A. Banks of the 
Owyhee project, and practically the entire 
engineering staff of the Denver office of 
the Bureau of Reclamation. District 
Engineer P. F. Meade, of the Denver 
office of the Portland Cement Association, 
was instrumental in arranging for the 
lectures. 



AT Gibson Dam, Sun River project, 
all concrete, except 1,300 cubic 
yards to be poured in the diversion open- 
ings, had been placed at the end of the 
month, at which time approximately 
10,000 acre-feet of water was stored in 
the reservoir. 



120 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 



Growing Olives on the Orland Project, California 



OLIVES were first introduced into 
the United States by the Franciscan 
Fathers, who nearly 150 years ago brought 
some to this country and planted them at 
the San Diego Mission, near the site of 
what is now the city of San Diego, Calif. 
From this early mission the trees were 
distributed to others located in the 
southern and central parts of the State. 
Some of the original plantings are still 
thrifty and productive after nearly a 
century and a half, indicating the abnor- 
mally long life of the tree. At one time 
in the early history of California horti- 
culture, olives were for many years the 
most important fruits produced in the 
State. 

The early planting of olives in the 
Orland community consisted mostly of 
rows of trees on the exterior boundaries 
of other orchards, primarily for wind- 
break purposes. Because of the hardy 
nature of the tree, together with its rather 
dense evergreen foliage, the olive was 
well adapted for this purpose. It was 
not until after about 10 years of the 
Orland project's operation that the acre- 
age of olives was sufficiently extensive 
to be itemized in the annual crop census 
report. In 1921 there were 3 acres of 
bearing trees reported. This has been 
gradually expanded until 173 acres were 
in a bearing state during 1928. 

On account of its sturdy qualities the 
olive is adaptable to most all the soils 
of the project. Thus far the industry 
has not been extensive enough to estab- 
lish definitely the relative merits of the 
various project soil classifications for 
most successfully raising olives. Like- 



By R. C. E. Weber, Superintendent 

wise, it is not yet certain as to the best 
practice regarding fertilization, although 
the consensus of most growers is to the 
effect that some method of fertilization, 
either growing a cover crop or the use of 
barnyard manure, is desirable. The tree 
is remarkably free from pests; this is 
especially true where pruning is practiced, 
which largely eliminates the possibility 
of infestation by certain varieties of 
scale. Light and regular annual pruning 
is recommended. 

The irrigation requirements of the olive 
are relatively light, the normal being about 
four or five irrigations during the sum- 
mer, beginning usually about May 15, 
provided that the spring plowing has been 
done sufficiently early to secure the bene- 
fit of the winter moisture for this purpose. 
Cultivation after irrigation is necessary 
for the proper conservation of moisture. 
During the ripening period in October 
and November it is essential that there 
be sufficient moisture in the ground to 
prevent the olives from shriveling. In 
normal years, the usual fall rains provide 
ample moisture for this purpose. 

LEADING VARIETIES 

The leading varieties of olives raised 
at Orland are the Mission (deriving its 
name from the original plantings in 
California at the Mission San Diego), 
the Manzanillo, and the Sevillano; the 
latter is more commonly known as the 
Queen and is a comparatively new variety 
on the project. The olive may be prop- 
agated by seeds or cuttings as well as by 
budding and grafting. Cuttings, how- 
ever, are used mostly. Grafting is re- 




An irrigated olive grove on the Orland project, 



sorted to where for some reason it is 
found desirable to change the variety of 
olive after the tree has had several years' 
growth. Quite recently a number of 
mature trees on the project have been 
grafted to the Sevillano variety. 

Too close a distance between trees in 
planting is not desirable, as the tops be- 
come high, making the picking of the 
fruit difficult and expensive. From 50 
to 60 trees per acre are recommended as 
general practice best suited for local con- 
ditions. 

On account of its late blossoming 
period the latter part of April and early 
in May olives on the project are prac- 
tically immune from frost damage. They 
mature about the 1st of October and 
picking continues well into November. 
The later and overripe olives are used for 
oil; the early product is used for pickled 
olives. Picking is by hand and is neces- 
sarily an expensive operation. The aver- 
age cost of picking, which is usually per- 
formed on a piecework basis, is $25 per 
ton. 

THE OLIVE MARKET 

Considerable difficulty was encountered 
for a number of years by the lack of an 
established market for Orland olives. 
This has been corrected by the formation 
of a local organization of growers, known 
as the Orland Olive Growers ' Association, 
which is a subsidiary of the California Olive 
Growers' Exchange, a state-wide mar- 
keting organization of olive producers. 
The local association has a membership 
of 22 and represents approximately 185 
acres of groves, most of which are located 
in the project area. In 1927, a 10-year 
contract was entered into by the Orland 
association and the Sylmar Packing Co., 
a large established commercial packing 
firm, whereby the growers are guaranteed 
a fixed price for their olives, varying from 
$40 to $225 per ton, depending upon the 
grade, together with a participation in 
the net profits to the extent of 50 per cent. 
This contract, which has been in effect 
during 1927 and 1928, has stabilized 
prices and has done much toward estab- 
lishing the local industry on a going basis. 
Prices received by the growers have been 
remunerative, and quite universal satis- 
faction has resulted from the two years' 
operation under the contract. 

In the two years of its existence the 
local association has acquired plant and 
equipment representing an investment of 
$3,600; this will be increased to $5,000 
during the fall of 1929 in extensions and 



August, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION EKA 



121 




Shipping olives, Orland project, California 



improvements. A grader was purchased 
last year and was used in handling the 
1928 crop. Other equipment consists of 
brine tanks for preliminary processing 
of olives, preparatory to their shipment 
by rail to the Sylmar plant near Los 
Angeles, where they are prepared for the 
market. At present the equipment of 
the growers is housed in the packing plant 



of the Orland Orange Growers' Associa- 
tion under a temporary rental arrange- 
ment. Property with railroad frontage, 
however, is owned by the olive growers on 
which the erection of an independent 
plant is ultimately contemplated. 

As now graded for shipment, the local 
product consists of five commercial varie- 
ties or sizes, together with a low grade, 



consisting of small olives, which is used 
in the manufacture of oil. After grading 
the olives are subjected to treatment in 
a brine solution, after which they are 
shipped by rail in tank cars to the pro- 
cessing plant near Los Angeles. 

PRODUCTION 

The value of an olive grove in prime 
bearing state is estimated at $750 per 
acre. Some of the best trees produce 
6,000 pounds of olives; a fair average 
production is from 2,500 to 3,000 pounds 
per acre. At an average price of 5 cents 
per pound the mean gross return will 
vary from $125 to $150 per acre per year, 
which will leave the grower a substantial 
net return after deducting labor and other 
operating expenses. 

There are a number of features in con- 
nection with the olive industry at Orland 
which speak well for a highly successful 
future. Climatic and soil conditions com- 
bined with the natural hardiness of the 
trees are most conducive to raising olives 
here, and the long term contract, which 
has already demonstrated its effectiveness, 
will afford a market for the product at 
prices that will yield the grower profitable 
returns. 



Petrified Forest on 

Lower Yellowstone 

H. A. Parker, superintendent of the 
Lower Yellowstone project, Montana- 
North Dakota, and E. E. Roddis, district 
counsel, at Billings, Mont., have discov- 
ered a petrified forest on Indian Coulee 
about 3 miles southwest of Savage, Mont. 
With Federal aid the State of Montana 
is reconstructing 8 miles of the main high- 
way from Glendive, Mont., to Williston, 
N. Dak. This is the principal road 
through the Lower Yellowstone project. 
The reconstructed highway crosses Indian 
Coulee in some picturesque bad-land 
territory. Adjacent to the roadway on 
the west side are several acres of fallen 
petrified trees. Some of them are 10 feet 
in diameter and over 100 feet long. The 
tops of the petrified trees taper off ab- 
ruptly, indicating they belonged to the 
coal-tree forests of that geological age; 
furthermore, this conclusion is supported 
by the location of a vein of coal in an 
adjoining hill, which appears to be on the 
same earth strata. 

The trees have fallen in the same direc- 
tion, leading to the belief that they were 
uprooted by a violent southeast wind. 
Over an area 30 miles wide and 100 miles 
long in eastern Montana pieces of petri- 
fied wood can be found, but this is the 



first forest of petrified trees lying in place 
as they had fallen. The silicate deposit 
which turned the trees to stone has not 
crystallized, and none of the wood rings 
of the trees is visible. 



The new road is on a scenic location as 
it crosses Indian Coulee, and the plains 
bordering the project can be viewed for 
more than 50 miles. Visit the scenic 
Lower Yellowstone. E. E. Roddis. 




[Petrified trees on Lower Yellowstone project, Montana-North Dakota 



122 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 




Reclamation Project W omen and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Project Club Activities 

INFORMATION as to club activi- 
ties and illustrations of club buildings 
have been carried in the May, June, and 
July issues of this magazine. Each 
project group is proud of the showing it 
can make in this connection and I feel 
sure the information on one project is of 
interest to all others, not only to show the 
extent of the activities but the methods 
of organization. 

SHOSHONE PROJECT. WYOMING 

The Shoshone project is located in the 
northwestern portion of the State of 
Wyoming and about 80 miles east of 
Yellowstone National Park. Two towns 
are located on the project, Deaver and 
Frannie, each with a population of a little 
less than 100. It has one bank, two 
churches, and two schools, and the popu- 
lation of the irrigated farms is approxi- 
mately 600. 

The Farm Bureau has an active organ- 
ization, also the American Legion, with 
its auxiliary. The Lions Club and the 
Chamber of Commerce cover civic activi- 
ties. There are three study clubs, the 
Delphians, Epasc Club, and Library 
Club, the latter maintaining a very good 
circulating library. 

With the exception of the Library Club, 
which has its own building, and the Epasc 
Club, which meets at the homes of mem- 
bers, all of the foregoing meet at the 
schoolhouse or the various church base- 
ments, which are equipped with kitchen 
and dining-room facilities. The Garland 
Men's Club meets at the schoolhouse 
there and the Badger Club, a purely 
social men's club of Powell, has permanent 
quarters in the Lyric Theater Building. 
Of the seven social community clubs two 
have buildings the North End Club 
and the Riverside Club while the East 
End, the O'Donnell, Philophronean, Dea- 
ver, and Willwood Women's Clubs meet 
at the farm homes. 

To summarize, there are 7 fraternal, 
2 civic, 4 study or educational, 2 men's, 
7 community, and 1 farm club on the 
project. It will be seen that there is no 
lack of social life and organized endeavor 
on the project. There is spasmodic 
talk of building a central community 
house large enough to house most of 
these organizations and containing a 
large dining hall, well equipped kitchen, 
large dancing floor, etc., with possibly 
a swimming pool also, but since the high- 



school building has a large auditorium, 
which is freely offered to the public by 
the 'school board, and three of the churches 
have large basement dining rooms and 
kitchens, the need is not very urgent, 
and it is not likely any such movement 
will find favor until the school bonds are 
retired and the farmers are more pros- 
perous than at present. 

Of the three club buildings owned, the 
North End Club Building is the most 
attractive. Fifteen years ago, when this 
building was erected, each family inter- 
ested donated $5 and two days' work on 
the building. The Reclamation Service 
gave a lease on the ground, two mail- 
order houses donated the dishes and 
silver, a departing member donated a 
piano and stove, and the chairs were 
bought with the proceeds of entertain- 
ments. Thus, with no great burden on 
anyone, the project was able to have 
a neat and attractive community gather- 
ing place which, though not large or 
pretentious, was sufficient for its modest 
demands at that time and is still in con- 
stant use. 

The Library Club Building is an old 
school building which was purchased from 
the school board, moved to its present 
location near the High School Building, 
and all except a small room at the front 
is now rented to the school board for a 
primary room. The Riverside Club 
Building was once a store building and al- 
though, when it was moved, the plan was 
to remodel it, this has not yet been done. 

YUMA PROJECT. ARIZONA 

The Yuma project straddles the 
boundary line of Arizona and California, 
with its greatest acreage in Arizona. The 
project has 3 banks, 14 schools, and 25 
churches. It has five towns, the largest 
of which is Yuma, with a population of 
approximately 8,000. The population on 
irrigated farms is a little less than 4,000. 

There are three federated women's clubs 
on the Yuma project the Somerton 
Women's Club, located at Somerton, 
Ariz.; the Gadsden Women's Club, 
located at Gadsden, Ariz.; and the Delta 
Club at Yuma. The first two mentioned 
own their own clubhouses. (See illustra- 
tion.) The Delta Club at Yuma, how- 
ever, owns a lot in the residential section 
of the city, but as yet has not built on it. 
They conduct their meetings at the 
homes of the various members. These 
clubs do not hold meetings during June, 
July, August, and September, due to the 



heat of these summer months and the 
absence of many of the members at that 
time. 

The Gadsden Women's Club, with a 
membership of 20, has one active depart- 
ment called home economics, and two 
study departments. This club' meets 
every two weeks. 

The Somerton Women's Club, with a 
membership of 36, meets every other 
Thursday, and is made up of four de- 
parments namely, Americanization, phil- 
anthropy, parliamentary, and cooperation 
with World War veterans. 

The Delta Club, of Yuma, with a mem- 
bership of 80, holds meetings every other 
Thursday and is comprised of four de- 
partments literary, travel, local history, 
and Americanization; in addition to 
which there are three study departments. 
All of these clubs engage in charity and 
civic work as well. 

In addition to the above women's clubs 
there is also a business and professional 
women's club at Yuma, which is affiliated 
with the State and National Federation 
of Business and Professional Women's 
Clubs. The local club, with a limit of 
two-thirds of its membership to business 
and professional women and the other 
third to housewives, has a total member- 
ship of 80. This club owns its own 
clubhouse. (See illustration.) The build- 
ing is very attractively furnished and a 
revenue is derived from renting it for 
various local social functions. The activ- 
ities of the club are mainly of a social 
nature; however, they do a considerable 
amount of charity and civic work as well. 

There is also a Wednesday Afternoon 
Club with a membership of 20, comprised 
of the wives of the ranchers in the valley 
division of the project. Their meetings 
are held twice monthly at the homes of 
the various members. The activities of 
the club are equally divided between social 
and home economics work. 

Other clubs of a civic nature on the 
project are the Yuma Chamber of Com- 
merce, with a membership of 225, and 
the Kiwanis Club, with a membership of 
54. Neither of these organizations, how- 
ever, owns a clubhouse. 

The Yuma Valley Country Coub, with 
a membership of 131, owns its clubhouse 
(see illustration) , and a 9-hole golf course, 
swimming pool, and shotgun range. This 
club is located on the Yuma Mesa 3>4 
miles east of the town of Yuma. The 
club grounds of 80 acres are about 1 
mile west of Fly Field, the local airport, 



GADSDEN WOMENS CLUBHOUSE 

GADSDEN. ARIZONA 



YUMA VALLEY COUNTRY CLUB, 

NEAR YUMA, ARIZONA 



SOMERTON WOMENS CLUBHOUSE 

SOMERTON, ARIZONA 



BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL 
WOMENS CLUBHOUSE. 



YUMA 
PROJECTS 

CLUB 
BUILDINGS 




and were acquired five years ago, for the 
amount of the mortgage. Grapefruit, 
orange, and lemon trees afford a source 
of revenue to the club, which is placed 



a general fund. The officers, a president, 
four directors, and a secretary, serve 
without compensation. Initiation fee is 
$100 and yearly dues $36. 



This issue completes the series of 
articles on clubs for adults, and junior 
activities will be treated commencing 
with the September issue. 

123 



124 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 



Drainage Work -Cooperative Results by Contract and by Government 

Forces 



A NY discussion of results obtained on 
./X construction work by whatever 
method employed should give consider- 
ation to the various differences and 
difficulties encountered on the work. In 
the determination of comparative results 
on drainage work by contract and by Gov- 
ernment forces, a tabulation only of unit 
costs without a description and com- 
parison of the conditions under which the 
work was accomplished might easily be 
more misleading than instructive. In 
the following discussion an attempt has 
been made to select from the large number 
of drainage jobs completed during the last 
15 or 16 years, only such work as had 
sufficient similarity in construction con- 
ditions to warrant a comparison and to go 
somewhat beyond the figures of a cost 
report or a bid price to determine if there 
were advantages in any method of con- 
struction which might not be shown in a 
mere tabulation of costs and prices. 

Waterlogging of lands is caused by the 
accumulation of underground waters 
derived from canal losses, irrigation losses, 
and rainfall wherever the natural under 
drainage is insufficient to remove such 
waters as rapidly as supplied. These 
underground losses in their passage down 
the slope may be forced to the surface by 
impervious strata but eventually the 
greater portion goes to fill up the under- 
ground reservoir. This process continues 
until the losses from any given area 
through natural underground or artificial 
drainage, surface run-off, and evaporation 
from waterlogged land equal the losses 
into the subsoil. 

Drainage is usually undertaken before 
this balance between inflow and outflow is 
reached and the investigator in formu- 
lating the plans for the relief and protec- 
tion of an area usually has only unstabi- 
lized and changing conditions upon which 
to base a plan of drainage. When the 
water table approaches the critical stage, 
changes in the extent of the water-logged 
area can and often do occur very rapidly. 
It is not uncommon for lands to become 
water-logged between seeding and harvest- 
ing time and such changing conditions 
often make changes in the original plans 
advisable and necessary. 

EFFECTIVENESS OF DRAINS 

When relief from existing water-logged 
conditions has been effected, farming is 
resumed and a new set of conditions is 
imposed on the area. Lands once idle be- 
cause of seepage and alkali deposits are 
again irrigated, the total water applied to 



By J. R. latysch. Engineer, Denver Office 

the land and carried in the canals is in- 
creased and the aggregate of the losses into 
the subsoil are greater. The constructed 
drainage channels may not be adequate 
for the removal of these surplus losses and 
additional branch drains are often found 
to be necessary. This supplemental drain- 
age work, because the drains are usually 
short, moving costs large, and canal and 
drain crossings numerous, costs more than 
the original work. Costs for this class of 
work on the Newlands project show an in- 
crease of 15 per cent and on the Shoshone 
project of 10 per cent. The investigations 
and development of plans for such second- 
ary drains requires greater detail study as 
the acreage to be protected is usually 
small and the acreage cost of drainage 
should not exceed the value of the land 
when reclaimed. 

The development of water-logged condi- 
tions is usually a slow process, the final 
effectiveness of constructed drains can be 
determined often only after some years of 
operation and the changing conditions of 
inflow into the subsoils of an area preclude 
the possibility of formulating a plan of 
drainage based upon existing conditions 
that will be adequate for all possible future 
needs. The requirement for changes in 
plans and the fact that drainage can be 
planned and should be undertaken only as 
conditions warrant and demand do not 
make drain construction readily adaptable 
to contract work. It is a type of work 
more similar to the maintenance of a proj- 
ect and the betterments necessary after 
an irrigation system has been in operation 
for some time and it has usually been 
found to be advantageous to do this class 
of work by Government forces. 

Drainage work is usually undertaken on 
a project after it has been operated and 
maintained for some time by Government 
forces and the nucleus of an increased 
organization is usually present. There 
are also drag lines and other construction 
equipment used only at intervals on main- 
tenance and available at other times for 
drainage work. With the combined work 
under one management, maintenance 
crews and equipment can be used to better 
advantage. This probably results in 
more benefit to maintenance than to 
drainage and its exact value is difficult to 
determine, but it is a real benefit and has 
a tangible value in the economic operation 
of a project, g. 

EARLY DRAINAGE CONSTRUCTION 

Most of the drainage work on Federal 
reclamation projects has been done by 



Government forces. Some of the tile 
drain work on the Huntley project during 
the earlier period of construction was 
done by contract, but later was discon- 
tinued because of failure to obtain bids 
that compared favorably with the cost 
of similar work being done by Govern- 
ment forces on the project. The first 
drainage work done on the Shoshone 
project was by contract and the price 
bid for excavation was 18 cents per cubic 
yard. The contractor failed and the work 
was finished by Government forces. 
During the period of drain construction 
on the Rio Grande project certain open 
drains, totaling about 10 miles in length, 
were let by contract. As the cost of this 
work was in excess of that being done by 
Government forces, this practice was dis- 
continued upon the request of the water 
users' organization. 

Such unsatisfactory results during the 
early period of drainage construction were 
due largely to the scarcity of contractors 
suitably equipped to handle such work. 
In the interests of economical construc- 
tion, if for no other reason, it became 
necessary for the bureau to do the work by 
Government forces. This required the 
purchase of costly equipment and the 
development of a skilled personnel to 
handle the work successfully. Conditions 
in the contracting field, however, have 
changed considerably in recent years. A 
large amount of drainage work has been 
done on private irrigation projects and 
the demands in other lines of work have 
compelled contractors to equip them- 
selves with excavating machinery suitable 
to handle drainage work efficiently. One 
result of such changed conditions is that 
there is now a sufficient number of con- 
tractors suitably equipped and experi- 
enced in this line of work to furnish keen 
competition in the bidding on all drainage 
work which is being advertised for con- 
tract. 

CONTRACT WORK 

Within the last four or five years it has 
become necessary to do at least some of 
the drainage work in progress by con- 
tract. This was in line with the policy 
of the department that all construction 
work would be done in the future by con- 
tract if satisfactory bids could be obtained. 
To suspend all drainage work being done 
by Government forces seemed to be very 
doubtful economy. Under such an ar- 
rangement, the large amount of construc- 
tion equipment in use and not yet fully 
depreciated would be rendered idle or 
would have to be disposed of at a figure 



August, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



125 



probably below its value on the books of 
the project. The bureau was, therefore, 
permitted to continue drainage work by 
Government forces on those projects 
where this method was in use and where 
construction equipment was readily avail- 
able and to confine drainage work by 
contract to those projects where drainage 
had not been previously undertaken or 
where suitable construction equipment 
was not available for the work. 

Before proceeding to advertise drainage 
work it was necessary to prepare specifica- 
tions covering all items of construction. 
It was the intention in the preparation of 
such specifications to provide for the 
contractor to handle all the items of 
construction connected with the work, 
assume all responsibility of interference 
with traffic and communications and the 
delivery of water, and, in general, to relieve 
the projects of the necessity of maintain- 
ing even a small organization for con- 
struction purposes in connection with the 
work. In this respect they have fulfilled 
their purpose, as the amount of additional 
work that it has been necessary to do by 
Government forces has been so small that 
it has been handled by project mainte- 
nance ( rews along with their other work. 

COMPARISON OF METHODS 

Mention has been made of some of the 
advantages and disadvantages under the 
different methods of construction, but 
these have been more general than 
specific in nature. The most important 
feature in any comparison of results is 
after all contained in a direct comparison 
of unit costs obtained on work having the 
same general characteristics. On drain- 
Age work such a comparison on a mileage 
basis is not permissible. Drainage con- 
ditions on the projects require drains of 
different depth and carrying capacity. 
Total structure costs may also vary with 
the type installed, the size of farm 
holdings, and the number of canal, lateral, 
and farm crossings necessary. The com- 
parison must be made on the basis of the 
different items of work, and as excavation 
on open drains usually comprises more 
than 80 per cent of the total contract cost 
of drain construction the study of com- 
parative costs under the different methods 
has been confined to this item of work. 

Drainage work by contract is at present 
confined to the Lower Yellowstone proj- 
ect, the Belle Fourche project, and the 
Minidoka project. For purposes of com- 
parison it was considered best to select 
the Newlands project, the Vale project, 
and the Shoshone project, where drainage 
work by Government forces has been done 
ill recent years or is still in progress. By 
doing this all of the earlier drainage work 
done on the projects has been eliminated 
from consideration, although it contains 



some of the lowest unit costs that have 
been obtained by Government forces. 
The selections made, however, lend them- 
selves more readily to a direct comparison, 
as labor conditions and costs, excavation, 
construction, and climatic conditions, 
excavating machinery used, and fuel and 
supply prices are more nearly the same. 

It is considered advisable before pro- 
ceeding with a direct comparison to 
describe briefly the differences and simi- 
larities in construction conditions that 
exist on the various projects. Climatic 
conditions on the Lower Yellowstone and 
the Belle Fourche projects are very similar 
to those on the Shoshone project and those 
on the Newlands and Vale projects more 
nearly resemble those on the Minidoka 
project. Excavation conditions on the 
Belle Fourche and Lower Yellowstone 
projects are considered to be very good. 
No hard material has been encountered 
and the excavation consists largely of 
sandy clays and gravels with some sticky 
clays. Some sloughing of banks has 
occurred and a small amount of recut has 
been necessary. Mats for drag lines 
have been necessary on all of the work 
under consideration. Excavation diffi- 
culties have probably been the greatest 
on the Newlands project where consider- 
able difficulty has been experienced from 
caving banks, unstable footing for drag 
lines and the necessity for recut. A con- 
siderable amount of hardpan that required 
blasting was encountered on the Vale 
project work. The recent work on the 
Shoshone project is somewhat complicated 
by frequent ledges of sandrock and shale, 
short drains, and heavy moving costs. 

Excavation on the Vale project has been 
done almost entirely by electric drag lines 
and on the Shoshone project by electric 
and gasoline drag lines. On the other 
projects such work has been done by gas- 



oUne drag 'ines although electric power 
was available on the Lower Yellowstone 
project at a reasonable cost if it had been 
desired. 

FIELD COSTS 

The accompanying tables show the 
field costs on drainage work done by 
Government forces and bid prices on drain 
excavation under the various contracts 
in recent years. None of the work dates 
back farther than 1921. The field cost of 
excavation on work done by Government 
forces and the bid price for drain excava- 
tion under contract work are directly 
comparable in so far as the elements 
which go to make up the cost are con- 
cerned. 

On the basis of the figures presented in 
the tabulation, the average bid price re- 
ceived for open drain excavation on con- 
tract is approximately 28 per cent above 
the field cost of the work done by Govern- 
ment forces and the lowest bid price is 
$0.004 higher than the highest unit field 
cost. It should be noted, however, that 
such bid prices have been lower on the 
more recent advertisement, due probably 
to greater competition and more familiar- 
ity with this class of work. It is not im- 
probable that still lower bids may be 
obtained on future advertisements. 

Most of the contract work done so far 
has been under circumstances that are 
considered to be very favorable and it still 
remains to be demonstrated whether the 
specifications cover all possible contingen- 
cies and whether the contractor can suc- 
cessfully accomplish such work under all 
possible difficulties that may arise. In 
closing, it might be well to add that 
contractor's costs on excavation as kept 
by the bureau have shown that none of 
the contract work accomplished in recent 
years has been done at a loss to the 
contractor. 



Open drain excavation costs on recent work done by Government forces 



Project 


Period 


Length, in 
miles 


Average 
depth, in 
feet 


Excava- 
tion, cubic 
yards 


Cost 
per cubic 
yard 


Power 




1921-1925 


150 


9.0 


5,309,900 


$0.081 


Qas. 




1926-1928 


24 


7.7 


611,700 


.073 


Oas and electric. 


Vale..- 


1927-1928 


57 


9.5 


2,213.800 


.069 


Electric. 


Total 




231 


9.0 


8,215,400 


.077 



















Bid prices on open drain excavation Recent work by contract, 1927 to 1929, inclusive 



Project 


Specifi- 
cations 


Length, 
in miles 


Average 
depth, in 
feet 


Excava- Bid price 
tion, cubic per cubic 
yards yard 

1 


Power 




458 


8.0 


8.0 


220,000 1 $0.1175 


Gas. 




465 
465 
465 

478 
478 
466 


13.3 
3.5 
9.7 
10.0 
7.2 
30.0 


8.0 
9.0 
7.0 
8.0 
8.0 
9.1 


330,000 .113 
95. 000 . 12 
220,000' .115 
230. 000 . 106 
160,000 .10 
860,000; .10 


Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 


Minidoka 


482 
487 
469 


23.2 
33.6 
6.0 


9.2 
9.2 
8.0 


565.000 ! .0894 
800,000 .085 
143,000 .10 


Do 
Do 
Do. 


Total 




144.5 


8.7 


3, 623, 000 . 099 





126 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 



List of Congressional Reports on the Colorado River 

In reference files, Washington Office, Bureau of Reclamation, June 30, 1929 
Compiled by W. I. Swanlon, Engineer, Washington Office 



Date 


Report 




Pages 


No. 


Congress 
and 
session 


Date 


Report 


Pages 


No. 


Congress 
and 
session 


1903 
Dec. 18 


Colorado River, Ariz, and Calif., 


6 


H. Doc. 204 


58th, 2d. 


1920 
Mar. 5 


Examination of Imperial Valley 


4 


H. Rept 717 


66th, 2d. 


Do.... 


Chief of Engineers, War De- 
partment. Freight on river. 
Colorado River, Nev., Chief of 


5 


H. Doc. 237 


Do. 


Apr. 1 


and other lands in California. 
Report on H. R. 12537. 
Imperial Valley, Calif. Report 


2 


8. Rept. 497 


Do. 




Engineers, War Department. 
Eldorado-Rioville. 








May 18 


on H. R. 12537 by secretary. 
Imperial Valley investigations 


2 


Pub. No. 208. -. . 


Do. 


1904 
Mar. 21 


Irrigation by means of the Colo- 


86 


House hearings 


Do. 


May 19 


Kinkaid act (41 Stat. 600). 
Irrigation of Imperial Valley; 


2 


S. Doc. 276 


Do. 


Apr. 2 
Apr. 21 


rado River; Heber and Smythe. 
House Irrigation Committee. 
Water from Colorado River for 
irrigation; Heber and Smythe. 
Tables of discharge of Colorado 
River. 
Diversion of Colorado for Yuma 


65 
1 


Senate hearings... 
Indian appropria- 


Do. 

Do. 


1921 
Jan. 1 

June 4 


appropriation for investiga- 
tions, $20,000. 

Problems of Imperial Valley and 
vicinity; preliminary report; 
maps. 
Compacts between States, Ari- 


91 
32 


Committee print.. 
Hearings. . 


66th, 3d. 
67th, 1st. 


Apr. 28 


and the Colorado Indian reser- 
vations (33Stat. 189). 
Investigation use of waters of 


1 


tion. 
Pub. Res. 32 


Do. 




zona, California, Colorado, 
Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, 
and Wyoming. House Judi- 










Colorado for irrigation by the 
Secretary of the Interior (33 








June 17 


ciary Committee. 
Division and apportionment wa- 


2 


H. Rept. 191.. . 


Do. 


1905 
Jan. 9 


Stat. 591). 
Use of waters of lower Colorado 


8 


H. Doc. 204 


58th, 3d. 


June 27 


ters of Colorado. Report on 
H. R. 6877. 
Disposition waters of Colorado. 


1 


S. Rept. 180 


Do. 


1907 


for irrigation; C. D. Walcott. 








Aug. 19 


Report on S. 1853. 
Colorado River compact per- 


2 


Pub. No. 56 


Do. 


Jan. 12 


Imperial Valley or Salton sink 


40 


S. Doc. 212 


59th, 2d. 




mitted by act (42 Stat. 171). 










region, illustrations. Message 
of President on flood. 








1922 
Feb. 8 


Parker, Fort Mohave, and Ci- 


149 


Hearings 


67th, 2d. 


Jan. 18 


Salton Sea, Imperial Valley, and 


50 


Hearings 


59th, 2d. 












1908 


lower Colorado River. House 
Committee on Public Lands. 








Feb. 23 


zona; maps, appendix A to 
hearings, H. R. 11449. 
Problems of Imperial Valley and 


326 


S. Doc. 142.. 


Do. 


Feb. 11 


Irrigation in Imperial Valley; 


56 


S. Doc. 246 


60th, 1st. 












Feb. 26 


map and drawings; C. E. Tait, 
irrigation engineer. 
Memorial to John Wesley Powell. 


2 


S. Kept. 293 


Do. 


Feb. 28 


illustrations, and maps. 
Development of the Imperial 


233 


Committee print-- 


Do. 


Feb- 


Report S. 4469. 
Southern Pacific Railroad Im- 


70 


Hearings 


Do 




committee print of nearly all 








Apr. 


perial Valley claim; House 








June 15- 


Protection and development 


273 


Hearings. 


67th, 2d. 


1910 
June 8 


Committee on Claims; Cory, 
Orusky, etc. 

Grand and Green Rivers; sur- 


29 


H. Doc. 953 


61st, 2d. 


Feb. 21. 


lower Colorado River Basin. 
House Committee on Irriga- 
tion; 5 parts. 








1911 
Feb. 23 


veys by engineers, War De- 
partment. 

Dam across Colorado River, 


2 


S Rept 1233 


61st, 3d. 


1923 
Jan. 23 


Southern Pacific Co. Report of 
S. Committee on Claims; break 
in Colorado. 


21 


S. Rept. 1066 


67th, 4th. 












Feb. 28 


Promotion industry, Colorado 


3 


8. Doc. 331 


Do. 


Dec. 22 


Head Gate Rock). 
Ockerson report on Imperial 


63 


H. Doc. 504 


62d, 2d. 




River Basin. Report from 
President and Bureau of the 










Valley levee construction; 








Mar 2 


Budget. 
Colorado River compact. Re- 


12 


H. Doc 605 


Do. 


1914 

Dec. 18- 


Imperial Valley, flood protection. 


141 


Hearings 


63d, 3d. 




port of Colorado River Com- 
mission, Herbert Hoover, chair- 








19 


Hearings urgent deficiency bill 










man. 
Protection and development of 


212 


Hearings 


68th, 1st. 


1915 
Jan. 7 


Protection lands and property in 


16 


H Doc 1476 


Do. 


Aug. 


lower Colorado River Basin; 
information House Committee 








1916 


Imperial Valley; map of delta; 
Marshall. 

Flood control; H. M. Chlttenden, 


67 


H. Doc. 2 


64th, 1st. 


1924 


on Irrigation; Diamond Creek. 
H. R. 2903, including Federal 
Power. 


















Feb. 9- 


Protection and development of 


1980 


Hearings 


68th, 1st. 


Jan. 5 


Problem, pp. 59-65. 
Imperial Valley, construction 


2 


S. Doc. 232.,.. 


Do. 


May 17. 


lower Colorado River Basin, 
Swing bill, H. R. 2903; 8 parts, 










protection works (report of 










with index. 


152 




Do. 


Jan. 13 


script). 
Plan for protection of Imperial 


21 


H. Doc. 686... 


Do. 


June. 


lower Colorado River Basin; 
information by citizens of 








July 29 


Valley; Marshall's report, il- 
lustrations and maps. 


2 


H Rept 1062 


Do 


May 14 


Arizona and others. H. R. 
2903. 
La Plata River compact. Re- 


1 


S. Rept. 554 


Do. 




project,. Report on H. R. 6901 








May 26 


port on S. 1656. 


1 


Pub 141 


Do. 


1917 
June 1 


Colorado River and relation to 


39 


S. Doc. 103 


65th, 1st. 




account of Colorado River 
flood (43 Stat. 171). 


















Dec 17- 




320 


Hearings 


68th, 2d. 


1919 
Feb. 3 


June 30, 1907. 
Colorado River in Arizona. 


28 


Hearings 


65th, 3d. 


Jan.23. 
1925 


Committee on Irrigation on 
S. 727; 2 parts. 








Feb. 27 


House Flood Control Commit- 
tee; Marshall, Cory, etc. 
Flood control, Colorado River, 


1 


H Rept. 1149 


Do. 


Jan. 6 


La Plata River compact. Re- 
port on S. 1656. 
Water Supply Paper No 556, 


7 
176 


H. Rept. 1076 
H Doc. 640 


Do. 
Do. 


July 9- 


Calif, and Ariz. Data com- 
plete. 
All-American canal for Imperial 


619 


Hearings. .. 


66th, 1st. 


Oct. 26- 


E. C. La Rue, Colorado River. 
Numerous maps and drawings. 
Colorado River Basin, Senate 


931 


Hearings 


69th, 1st 


Mar. 
July 16 


and Coachella Valleys, 3 parts. 
Colorado River survey, Imperial 
Valley. Hearings House Flood 
Control Committee. 


24 


do 


Do. 


Dec. 22. 

1926 
Feb 6- 


hearings, S. Res. 320; 6 parts. 
Colorado River Basin. House 


312 


Hearings 


Do. 


July 22 


All-American canal report, maps; 


68 


Report 




Mayl7 


Irrigation Committee hearings 










by Messrs. Mead, Schlecht, 
Grunksy, and Preston. 










on H. R. 6251 and H. R. 9826; 
2 parts. 









August, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



127 



Date 



Report 



Pages 



No. 



Congress 
and 



Date 



Report 



No. 



Congress 
and 



1926 
Apr. 19 



May 17 
Dec. 22- 



Boulder Canyon reclamation 
project, 2 parts. Report on S. 
3331. 

Glen Canyon, Bridge Canyon, 
and Arizona High Line Canal. 



Fred T. Colter (illustrations). 
Boulder Canyon reclamation 
Jan. 28 | project. Report on H. R. 9826; 
5 parts. 



1927 
Jan. 17 



Jan. 20- 
22 

Feb. 2 

Feb. 3 
Feb. 9 
Feb. 23 

Mar. 1 
Mar. 3 
Mar. 4 



1928 
Jan. 7 



Jan. 6- 
14 



Jan. 17- 
21 



Jan. 



Mar. 15- 
24 

Mar. 20- 
Apr. 9 
Apr. 2 



Estimates for irrigating lands 
under Colorado River compact. 
Report on S. J. Res. 131. 

Rules Committee (House). Hear- 
ings on Boulder Dam, H. R. 
9826, in 3 parts. 

Lower Rio Grande and lower 
Colorado Rivers. Report of 
Secretary of State. 
...do.... 



116 

19 

125 

2 
121 



S. Rept. 654... 
S. Doc. 113.... 
H. Rept. 1657. 

S. Rept. 1258 ' 

Hearings.. . 






do.. 

Protection and development 
lower Colorado River. 

Federal Power Commission li- 
censes affecting Colorado River. 
Report on S. J. Res. 4. 

Investigation Rio Grande and 
lower Colorado River. H. J. 
Res. 345 (44 Stat. 403). 

Federal Power Commission li- 
censes affecting Colorado River. 
(44 Stat. 1456.) 

Regulating the Colorado River; 
Mr. Davenport. House Irri- 
gation Committee on H. R. 
6770. 

Protection and development of 
lower Colorado River basin. 
House Irrigation Committee on 
H. R. 5773; 4 parts, index, and 
appendix. 

Colorado River Basin; Senate 
Irrigation Committee on S. 728 
and S. 1274, including special 
advisers' report. 

Development, lower Colorado 
River; Special Advisers Emer- 
son, Durand, Scbrugbam, and 
Oarfleld. (Reprint Senate 
hearings.) 

Boulder Canyon project. Report 
on H. R. 5773; 3 parts. 

Boulder Canyon project. Report 
on S. 728; 2 parts. 

Investigation of waters of Gila 
River, N. Me*, and Ariz., 
H. R. 10786. 



H. Doc. 676 



H. Rept. 1951 

S. Rept. 1455 

H. Rept. 2212 

H. Rept. 2285 



Pub. Res. 62. 



1 ! Pub. Res. 71. 



52 
664 

517 
71 

134 
76 
2 



Hearings. 



.do. 



.do.. 



Report. 



H. Rept. 918. 
S. Rept. 592.. 
H. Rept. 1101. 



1928 
69th, 1st. Apr. 24- House Rules Committee, Bould 

May 2 er Dam; 2 parts. 
j May 3 Investigation of waters of Gila 
Do. River, N. Mex. and Ariz. 

H. R. 10786. 

May 15 Rules report on Colorado River 
69th, 2d. bill on H. R. 5773. 

May 18 Compact, New Mexico and Colo- 
rado, San Juan, Las Animal, 
Rivers, etc. H. R. 6498. 
Do. May 18 Compact, New Mexico and Art- 

zona, Gila and San Francisco 
Rivers. H. R. 6499. 
Do. May 18 Interstate compact, Colorado, 

New Mexico, San Juan, Las 
Anlmas, etc. 
Do. ! May 18 ! Interstate compacts, Colorado- 

Utah. 

May 28 Equitable use waters, lower Colo- 
Do. rado and Rio Grande, Dept. 

Do. State. 

Do. May 29 Board of Engineer's to report on 

Boulder Dam. S. J. Res. 164 
Do. (45 Stat. 1011). 

Dec. 3 albert report on Boulder Dam 

project, Colorado River. 
Do. Dec. 10 Colorado River development, 

Geo. W. Malone. 

Dec. 21 Boulder Canyon project act. 
Do. H. R. 5773 (45 Stat. 1057). 

1929 

Jan. 17 Apportionment waters Gila and 
70th, 1st. San Francisco Rivers. 

Reapportionment Rio Grande, 
San Juan, and Las Animas 
Rivers. 

Do. Feb. 11 Compacts, Colorado, Wyoming, 

New Mexico, and Utah, respect- 
ing division of water. 

Feb. 19 Restricting Federal Power Com- 
mission licenses affecting the 
Do. Colorado River. 

Feb. 25 Apportionment of waters of Gila 
and San Francisco Rivers. 
H. R. 6499. 

Do. Mar. 1 Restricting Federal Power Com- 

mission granting licenses on 
Colorado River. 

Mar. 2 Compacts, Colorado and New 
Mexico, regarding Rio Grande 
Do. and San Juan Rivers, etc. 

Compact, New Mexico and 
Do. Arizona, respecting Gila and 

San Francisco Rivers. 
Do. June 25 Presidential proclamation. Boul- 

der Canyon Dam project act 
effective. 



15 

225 

11 



Hearings 

S. Rept. 1179. . 

H. Rept. 1666. 
H. Rept. 1739. 

H. Rept. 1740. 
H. Rept. 1747. 

H. Rept. 1751. 
S. Doc. 163... 



Pub. Res. 65. 



H. Doc/446. .. 
S". Doc. 186.... 
Pub. No. 642- 

S. Rept. 1496. . 
S. Rept. 1497.. 



S. Rept. 1724.. 
H. Rept. 2621. 
H. Rept. 2784. 
Pub. Res. 98.. 



Pub. No. 946- 

r 

Pub._No.:963._ 
No. 1882... 



70th, 1st. 
Do. 

Do. 
.Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Do. 

Do. 

70th, 2d. 
Do. 
Do. 

Do. 
Do. 

Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 



Advertising the Kittitas 
Project 

E. E. Mundy, secretary of the Chamber 
of Commerce of Ellensburg, Wash., 
writes that this organization is actively 
interested in securing a satisfactory type 
of settler for the Kittitas division of the 
Yakima project, including a program of 
advertising and publicity articles in news- 
papers and magazines. 

The accompanying illustration shows 
one of the large bulletin boards erected 
by the chamber of commerce at strategic 
points on the highway system at three 
points in the State. The copy on the 
bulletin boards is changed twice a year. 
The new copy, now on display, emphasizes 
"opportunities for superior settlers." 



ANEW farmers' cotton compress 
company has been organized, incor- 
porated at $100,000, and construction of 
a compress is under way at Las Cruces, 
Rio Grande project. 



KITTJTAS 

RECIAMAIION 

DISTRICT 



44444444444444>< 
><4444444444444 

444444*4<44444 

>********* 



> > > I t > I I 4 I I > 4 > I . 

4 4 4 4 t 4 4 



> 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 < 4 4 4 > 4 t 4 




GRAPEFRUIT and oranges are sizing 
up very well on the trees on the 
Yuma Mesa, Yuma project, with indica- 
tions of a very good yield during the com- 
ing season. 



E potato growers on the Boise 
_L project are joining a state-wide 
association to control the grading and 
marketing of their product. 



128 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



August, 1929 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



DR. Elwood Mead, Commissioner of 
Reclamation, returned to the Wash- 
ington office on July 17. While in the 
vicinity of Boulder Canyon Doctor and 
Mrs. Mead enjoyed an airplane trip, 
looking down on the canyon and on 
Imperial Valley from a height of 12,000 
feet. A message to the Washington 
office written in the plane at this height, 
signed by both, is a memento very highly 
prized. 

The following new employments or 
reemployments were made effective during 
the month, for assignment to the Denver 
office: Foster Towle, reemployed as 
associate engineer; Merrill J. Martz, 
temporarily employed as junior engi- 
neering draftsman; W. C. Beatty, reem- 
ployed as engineer; and Richard W. 
Whinnerah, E. R. Dexter, and Merle G. 
McCleery, junior engineers. 



ST. Luciano Jacques de Moraes, who has 
been sent to the United States by the 
"Servico Geologico e Mineralogico " of the 
Brazilian Department of Agriculture, for 
the purpose of studying the methods used 
by the Bureau of Reclamation, arrived in 
the Denver office recently en route to the 
West to visit several of our irrigation 
projects. 

Miss Mae A. Schnurr, assistant to the 
commissioner, and Miss Mary E. Gal- 
lagher, stenographer to the commissioner, 
made the trip to Boston and return by 
boat recently. Miss Schnurr delivered 
Doctor Mead's address on Community 
Small Farms before the National Asso- 
ciation of Real Estate Boards. 



Dr. L. E. Soskin, of Palestine, who is 
interested in settlement problems, in 
connection with his work with the Zionist 
organization, visited a number of our 
projects recently. 



Prof. David Weeks, of the University 
of California, Hev. C. W. Albeit and 
Rev. A. D. Luckhoff of the Dutch 
Reformed Church of South Africa were 
recent visitors on the Orland project. 



Oliver P. Morton, Special Assistant to 
the Attorney General, and District 
Counsel Coffey spent several days on the 
Orland project in connection with ' the 
Stony Creek water right adjudication 
suit. 



Recent visitors on the Vale project 
included W. J. Martin, assistant super- 
visor of agriculture of the Union Pacific 
system; Mr. Foster, of the Oregon State 
Chamber of Commerce; and N. A. Bowers, 
Pacific coast editor of the Engineering 
News- Record. 



Prof. Frank Adams, of the University 
of California, spent several days on the 
Klamath project, investigating economic 
conditions in the Shasta View and Malin 
districts. 



Recent visitors on the Yuma project 
included R. E. Blair, assistant chief of 
field crops, State department of agricul- 
ture, Sacramento, Calif.; Earl C. Pound, 
president, Michael Dowd, chief engineer, 
and C. L. Childers, attorney, Imperial 
irrigation district; Charles B. Ward, 
chairman, and C. C. Cragin, engineer 
advisor, Arizona-Colorado River Com- 
mission. 



Echo Dam, Salt Lake Basin project, was 
visited during the month by Mark Tuttle, 
secretary, Associated General Contractors; 
Paul Wattis, E. 0. Wattis, and Lester 
Corey, of the Utah Construction Co.; 
F. T. Crowe and Harry Morrison, of 
Morrison-Knudsen Co.; R. F. Hoffmark, 
of A. Guthrie & Co. (Inc.); and Lieut. 
Charles F. Fletter, constructing quarter- 
master, Fort Douglas, Utah. 



Paul W. Banks, junior engineer, Lower 
Yellowstone project, was in the veterans' 
hospital at Sheridan, Wyo., during the 
month. 



Nate Bowers, western editor of th 3 
Engineering News-Record; Jay Jellick, 
western coast manager; and Homer Had- 
ley, district manager of the Portland 
Cement Association were recent visitors 
on the Kititas division of the Yakima 
project. 

George B. Archibald, civilian engineer 
of the United States Army Engineers, 
spent about two weeks on the Milk River 
project in an investigation of Beaver 
Creek and Milk River flood conditions. 
Other visitors to the project included 
D. C. Salyerds, right of way agent, State 
highway commission; C. D. Greenfield, 
agricultural development agent, Great 
Northern Railway; and E. S. Sperry, 
State bureau of mines. 



A. W. Bainbridge has assumed the 
duties of office engineer at El Paso, Rio 
Grande project. 



/. N. Cook's Alfalfa 

Field, Orland Project 

The accompanying illustration shows 
the second crop of alfalfa raised on the 
farm of J. N. Cook, of the Orland project, 
California. Mr. Cook is a director of the 
Orland Unit Water Users' Association. 

This crop of alfalfa was matured in a 
period of 38 days. The first crop was cut 
April 15, and the second crop on May 22. 
The estimated yield of the second cutting 
was 1% tons per acre. Mr. Cook is 
feeding his hay to a herd of Holstein 
dairy cows. 




J. N. Cook's airal'a field, Orlancl project, California 

r.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1929 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Jos. M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 

Northcutt Ely and Ernest W. Sawyer, Executive Assistants 

Washington. D. C. 
Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Miss M. A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 
Denver. Colorado, Wilda Building 



George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 
Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

*r. 



R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer 
Li. N. MeClella_n, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Oflutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; C. A. 



Lyman, Field Representative. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 


Belle Fourche 


Newell, S. Dak.. 


F. C. Youngblutt... 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


Wm J Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise i 


Boise, Idaho 


R. J. Newell 


W L Vernon 






Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N. Mex 


L. E. Foster 
J. C. Page 


W. C. Berger 


W. C Berger 


H J S Devries 


Grand Valley 


Grand Junction, Colo. 
Ballantine, Mont 


W. J. Chiesman 


W. J Chiesman 




Huntley a 










King Hill 


King Hill, Idaho. 










Klamath 


Klamath Falls, Oreg 


H. D. Newell 


N. G. Wheeler 






Lower Yellowstone 


Savage, Mont 


H. A. Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E. Chabot 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E Chabot 




Milk River 


Malta, Mont 


H. H. Johnson 


do 


Minidoka 4 


Burley, Idaho. 


E. B. Darlington \ O. C. Patterson 






Newlands 5 


Fallen, Nev 






R J Coffey 


North Platte" 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H. C. Stetson 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Virgil E Hubbell 


Wm J Burke 


Okanogan 7 .... 


Okanogan, Wash. . ._ 










Orland 


Orland, Calif 


R. C. E. Weber 


C. H. Lillingston.. 
H. N. Bickel 


C. H. Lillingston.. 
Frank P Greene 


R J Coffey 




Owyhee, Oreg. 


F. A. Banks 






El Paso, Tex. 


L. R. Fiock 


Henry H. Berryhill... 
R B Smith 








Riverton, Wyo 


H. D. Comstock 


R. B. Smith 


Wm. J. Burke 


Salt River 


Phoenix, Ariz 




Shoshone B _ 


Powell, Wyo 


L. H. Mitchell 


W. F. Sha 




E E Roddis 


Strawberry Valley 10 


Payson, Utah .. 










Fairfleld, Mont-. . 


G. O. Sanford 


H. W. Johnson 


H W Johnson 






flrrigon, Oreg 










TJncompahgre 


\Hermiston, Oreg 










Montrose, Colo 


L. J. Foster... 


G. H. Bolt 


F. D. Helm 




Vale 


Vale, Oreg 


H. W. Bashore 
P. J. Preston 


C. M. Voyen 


C. M. Voyen... 
J C Gawler 


B E Stoutemyer 


Yakima - . 


Yakima, Wash .. 


R. K. Cunningham. ._ 
H R Pasewalk 






Yuma Ariz 


R M Priest 


E. M. Philebaum 















Large Construction Work. 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo 


Coalville, Utah 


F. F. Smith 


C F Williams 








Dam. 
Kittitas . . 


Ellensburg, Wash 


Walker R. Young '. 


E. R. Mills.. 








Sun River, Gibson 


Augusta, Mont. 


Ralph Lowry " 


F. C. Lewis 


F. C. Lewis 


E. E. Roddis 




Dam. 
Sun River, Main Canal 


Fairfteld, Mont 


A. W. Walker" 






do 


Do 


Construction. 
Boise project, Dead- 


Cascade, Idaho 




C. B. Funk 








wood dam. 















1 Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1, 1926. 

' Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1927. E. E. Lewis, manager. 

8 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 
F. L. Kinkade, manager. 

1 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation Dis- 
trict on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District on 
Dec. 2, 1916. 

* Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1926. D. S. Stuver, manager. 

Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1928, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by North- 
port Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



' Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 
Joe C. Iddings, manager. 

8 Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. C. C. Cragin, general superintendent and chief engineer. 

' Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

10 Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. Lee R. Taylor, manager. 

11 Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

1! Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926. A. C. Houghton, manager; and East Division by Hermiston Irriga- 
tion District informally on July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926, 
Enos D. Martin, manager. 

13 Construction engineer. 



Important Inccsligations in Progress 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 


All-American Canal investigations 




H J Qault 




Oila River cooperative investigations 






Arizona and New Mexico. 




Fallon Nev 


A W Walker 






Salt Lake City, Utah" 




State of Utah 


Yakima project extensions . . 


Yakirna, Wash . . 


P. J. Preston 




A Icova- Casper and Saratoga projects . . 


Casper, Wyo 


J. R. lakisch 













RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



SEPTEMBER, 1929 



NO. 9 




BACK TO SCHOOU 

ABOUT 700 SCHOOLS CARE FOR THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN 
ON THE FEDERAL IRRIGATION PROJECTS 



IRRIGATION 

^7RRIGATION should be looked upon as a 
C/ blessing, not a hardship. Soils formed 
under arid conditions are always rich in the 
mineral elements which make up plant food. 
The skies in arid sections are clear, not cloudy, 
and the sunlight is intense. The climate is 
Warmer than it would be were there more 
clouds. If now, with all this, it is possible 
for us to apply moisture to the roots of the 
growing crops, and apply it at the right 
time and in the right amount, we have all 
the conditions necessary for optimum growth 
and yield. 

PROFESSOR E. B. HOUSE, 

Colorado Agricultural College. 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price 75 cents a year 

RAY LYMAN WILBUR ELWOOD MEAD 

Secretary of the Interior Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



September, 1929 



No. 9 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



AT a recent meeting of some: 550 
poultrymen of Payson, Utah, and 
vicinity, on the Strawberry Valley project, 
it was decided that south Utah County, 
which covers the project area, should 
have a feed plant and an egg candling 
plant. This will be a big boost to Utah's 
famous milk white egg. It is estimated 
that by October 1 about 250 cases a week 
will leave Payson for New York and other 
points. 



HARVESTING of the third crop of 
alfalfa on the Orland project had 
been completed and the fourth crop was 
well matured at the end of the month. 



THE new bridge on the Oregon State 
highway about 8 miles west of Vale 
is practically completed. This will form 
an important highway link from Harper 
through the Vale project lands of the 
Harper and Little Valley areas to the 
Vale-Harper division of the central 
Oregon highway. 



EJING of the diversion and spillway 
tunnel, Owyhee Dam, Owyhee pro- 
ject, has been completed. As soon as the 
material and cofferdams around the 
portale have been removed, the river will 
be diverted through the tunnel and 
excavation of the river bed begun. 



A FOREST fire burned over almost 
the entire western watershed of 
Salmon Creek below Conconully Reser- 
voir, Okanogan project, recently, and the 
gate tender's cottage was saved only after 
strenuous effort on the part of the fire 
fighters. 



THE Central Pacific Railway has 
completed the laying of track from 
Klamath Falls, Oreg., Klamath project, 
to Alturas, Calif., and it is expected that 
the line will be opened for traffic at an 
early date. 

6644329 



\ CONFERENCE was held rccntly 
,/Y. on the Belle Fourche project to 
discuss the need of buildings on idle farms. 
Representatives of the local commercial 
clubs, the sugar company, the railroad 
company, and others took part in the 
discussion, and a resolution was adopted 
recommending the organization of a credit 
corporation to carry on a building 
program as the first essential for settle- 
ment of the unoccupied lands. 



SEVERAL prospective settlers were 
shown over the Riverton project 
recently and two applications were 
received for farm units. 



SUGAR beets which had been well 
cultivated 'and irrigated on the Milk 
River project have made an exceptional 
growth, and a record crop is in prospect. 



THE several town organizations on 
the Milk River project held a 
joint meeting recently at Saco with 
members of the Montana State Highway 
Commission to urge the rapid completion 
of a highway from Malta to Glasgow. 
This highway will traverse the project 
and will be an important factor in its 
development. Work has been started on 
a surfaced highway between Malta and 
Dodson. 



THE Worden Creamery, Huntley 
project, which has been closed for 
the past two years, has been moved to a 
new location on the Northern Pacific 
right of way, near the depot, and will be 
opened under new management in the 
near future. 



JUDGING from the number of day- 
old chicks purchased on the East 
division of the Umatilla project there 
will be an increase of approximately 25 
per cent in the number of laying hens on 
the division this fall. 



THE boys and girls of the 4-H clubs 
on the Grand Valley project are 
getting together an exhibit for the coming 
State fair. 



THE Valley Evaporating Co., Yakima 
project, which already has evap- 
orating plants at Prosser and Buena, has 
begun the construction of a third plant 
at Yakima to cost approximately $20,000 
and capable of handling about 4,500 tons 
of green fruit yearly. It is expected to 
handle only apples which find a ready 
market in Holland, Germany, and other 
European countries, and will employ 
about 70 people. 



THE new Zeolite plant on the Yuma 
mesa, Yuma project, and the 
$10,000 concrete alfalfa seed warehouse 
and laboratory on the outskirts of Yuma 
have been completed. 



ONE of the progressive water users 
in the valley division of the Yuma 
project planted 40 acres to cantaloupes 
on May 1. On July 15 he had picked the 
last of the melons at a net profit of 
$4,000, the result of intensive fertiliza- 
tion, cultivation, and proper irrigation 
methods. The same water user netted 
$50 an acre from 80 acres of alfalfa 
planted during the fall of 1928. 



PLANS are under way for the erection 
of a potato products mill at Burley, 
Minidoka project, by the Otato Corpora- 
tion of New YorlT The cost of construc- 
tion of the first unit will be about 
$100,000. The plant will use only culls 
and No. 2 potatoes and thus, it is be- 
lieved, become an important factor in the 
stabilization of potato prices. 



GIBSON Dam, Sun River project, was 
completed in July, and construc- 
tion equipment and camp buildings were 
being removed at the end of the month. 

129 



130 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 1929 



Federal Irrigation Projects: Their Economic and Social Value 

An Address Before the National Editorial Association, Powell, Wyo., August 3, 1929 

By George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 



IRRIGATION in the West began as an 
economic necessity. The Mormons 
under the leadership of Brigham 
Young diverted water from the creeks at 
Salt Lake and grew their first crop of po- 
tatoes and maize a stone's throw from 
the site of the Mormon Temple. In a 
few years irrigation was practiced in every 
State west of the one-hundredth meridian. 

Irrigation is more of an economic 
necessity now than it was in 1847. At 
that time a handful of pioneers depended 
on the food that sun and water could 
produce from a desert. Now a western 
empire uses irrigation as crop and food, 
insurance. It has converted Territories 
into States. It has made modern trans- 
portation possible and profitable across a 
trackless desert, linking a teeming eastern 
coast with a rising western empire to hold 
these regions under a united Government. 
Highways, telephone and telegraph lines 
connect its populous centers. Vegetables 
and fruits, dairy products and meats are 
supplied the workers in mines and forests 
from western projects. Irrigation is inti- 
mately interwoven with the economic and 
social fabric of the West. 

Millions of western acres are suited 
only to stock grazing six or seven months 
in the year. Complete utilization of this 
vast area depends on the production of 
grain and forage for winter feeding. 
Alfalfa is the main crop grown under 
irrigation and supplies a cheap and 
near-by winter food supply for range stock. 
It is the foundation of the livestock in- 
dustry west of- the humid region. 



One flockmaster in Idaho is said to be 
the largest individual sheep operator in 
the world. He grazes more than 100,000 
ewes on the deserts in the spring and in 
the mountains during the summer, operat- 
ing with 70 sheep camps. He crops 2,000 
acres of alfalfa land and buys more on half 
a dozen irrigation projects in that State 
to winter his sheep. He also imports 
many cars of Nebraska and Iowa corn to 
supplement his forage crops and to carry 
on his operations. To make this business 
profitable requires the combined resources 
of the West in grazing land and alfalfa 
and the production of corn in Nebraska 
and Iowa. Without alfalfa this industry 
would not be possible and the output of 
these animals in food and fiber would have 
to be imported. In 1928 we produced in 
the United States 351,000,000 pounds of 
wool and imported 240,000,000 pounds 
from foreign countries. 

In general, alfalfa is the most profitable 
crop grown under irrigation but it is 
profitable only when high yields are 
secured. This requires good stands and 
the maintenance of soil fertility. After a 
few years the stands thin out and the 
tonnage drops off. Every four to eight 
years the crop must be plowed under. A 
change of crop is necessary. This in- 
troduces crop rotation which involves 
alfalfa, grains, and such row crops as 
sugar beets, potatoes, and beans. The 
grains are generally fed on the farms and 
row crops are sold for cash. In the inter- 
mountain region, sugar beets are the main 
cash crop. In 1928, 71,250 acres of sugar 




UPSTREAM FACE oy SHOSHONE DAM, WITH THE RESERVOIR FULL, SHOSHONE PROJECT, WYOMING 



beets were grown on Federal projects 
alone, producing 778,000 tons of beets, 
worth about $5,Gqp,000. In the same 
year the United States imported three- 
fourths of its sugar. 

ECONOMIC VALUE OF A TYPICAL 
PROJECT 

There are 24 operating Federal recla- 
mation projects located in 15 of the 
Western States. They show a wide vari- 
ation in crop adaptation and climate, but 
alfalfa is grown on all of them. An anal- 
ysis of any one of them gives a fair meas- 
ure of their economic importance. The 
Shoshone project is in many respects a 
typical reclamation project. Prior to 
1904 it was a sun baked, uninhabited val- 
ley covered with desert plants. Its an- 
nual precipitation is only 5 inches. This 
is less than a third enough moisture to 
carry on successful dry farming. It was 
a spring pasture for wandering herds of 
sheep and cattle while they were being 
taken to the mountains. It was too hot 
and dry to produce summer feed without 
irrigation. 

Construction of the project was author- 
ized in 1904. Water was first available 
in 1908, and the Shoshone Dam was com- 
pleted in January, 1910. This dam is a 
rubble concrete structure located 8 miles 
above Cody, Wyo., on the Shoshone 
River. It is 328 feet high, 65 feet long 
at the stream bed, and 200 feet at the top. 
It contains 78,576 cubic yards of concrete 
and impounds 456,600 acre-feet of water. 
The surface area of the reservoir is 6,600 
acres. Flood waters of this turbulent 
river are stored in the spring and made 
available for irrigation in the summer. 
In addition to furnishing a reliable water 
supply for the Shoshone project, it has a 
beneficial effect on flood control on the 
Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. 

The income from this area was trifling 
before it was irrigated. Now more than 
40,000 acres are irrigated and cropped 
with annual crop values of $1,200,000. 
It provides homes for 1,989 people on 
farms and 1,572 people in five project 
towns. It has 5 schools, 9 churches, and 
3 banks. When the project is finally 
completed it will include over 100,000 
irrigable acres with corresponding in- 
creases in production and population. 

Statements are frequently made that 
these projects greatly aggravate the 
troublesome crop-surplus problem. AD 
analysis of the situation on Shoshone, 



September 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



131 



which is a typical project, shows that 
these statements are misleading and in- 
correct. In 1928, 433 cars of commodi- 
ties with a value of $729,375 were shipped 
to this project. Thirty-one cars were 
automobiles and 86 consisted of gasoline 
and lubricating oils. Fifty-three cars ; 
were groceries, 15 were feedstuff s for ani- j 
mals, and 12 were flour. The laborers 
and artisans who helped manufacture 
these goods, practically all of which came i 
from the East and Middle West, had to 
be fed and while thus employed they were 
eating the products grown in the localities 
in which they worked. 

SHIPMENTS TO AND FROM THE PROJECT 

In 1928, 1,885 cars with a value of 
$1,055,680 were shipped out of the project, j 
One thousand cars with practically half 
the value of all commodities sent out, 
were sugar beets. This is not a surplus 
crop. In the production of sugar beets 
and the conversion of the beets into sugar 
a, large number of people are employed, 
all of whom are users of food and fiber. 
Furthermore, they are consumers of agri- 
cultural products which are now produced 
in surplus in other parts of the country. 
The other commodities shipped out con- j 
sisted of beans, honey, peas, wheat, pota- | 
toes, cattle, hogs, poultry, sheep, wool, 
and dairy products. Only two of these, i 
wheat and potatoes, are surplus commodi- 
ties in so far as production of the entire > 
country is concerned, and these are largely | 
consumed in the mining and industrial 
-centers of the mountain region. Twenty- 
five cars of wheat were shipped out and 
12 carloads of flour shipped in. In addi- 
tion, 15 cars of stock feeds were shipped 
in, the basis of which is largely wheat, 
corn, and oats. Potatoes are gradually 
giving way to sugar beets, a more reliable 
cash crop. A large amount of summer 
vegetables, poultry, and dairy products 
.are trucked into the Yellowstone Park, 
which assist in furnishing the visitors 
with fresh and reasonably priced food- 
stuffs. 

The project is developing into a cattle 
and sheep feeding area for fattening and 
wintering livestock. The success of Wy- 
oming's livestock industry depends on 
alfalfa hay and other forage being near 
-the ranges. The Shoshone project is 
conveniently located to large grazing 
areas and brings about their full and 
economic utilization. 

The project is of substantial and per- 
manent construction. The structures are 
of concrete. Its cost to June 30, 1928, 
amounts to approximately $9,500,000. 
This includes features like the Shoshone 
Dam, which is partly chargeable to un- 
constructed divisions. The money ex- 
pended in its construction did not come 



out of the taxpayers' pockets. It came 
out of the reclamation fund. This fund 
is made up of a combination of revenue 
from a portion of the receipts of sales of 
public land within the 16 Western States 
and from bonuses, royalties, and rentals; 
from petroleum and other minerals; and 
from repayments from water users on 
constructed projects. It is a revolving 
fund, with two-thirds of the revenue now 
coming from settlers' repayments on 
older projects. Under the reclamation 
act of 1902, the Government furnishes 
the money and constructs the works and 
the farmers receiving the benefits repay 
the cost. It is neither charity nor a 
subsidy from Federal tax receipts. Rec- 
lamation aids in the Federal policy of 
river control through the construction of 
storage reservoirs on the headwaters of 
streams requiring levees to protect prop- 
erty on their lower reaches. It differs 
from river and harbor control works, how- 
ever, first in that the money is supplied 
by western farmers and from the sale of 
western resources, and second, the money 
must be repaid. 

THE NEED FOR RECLAMATION 

Wyoming requires reclamation. It in- 
cludes 62,500,000 acres; 17,500,000 acres 
are unappropriated public land suitable 
only for grazing and usable only with 
near-by irrigation. Approximately 10,- 
000,000 acres are in forest reserves, pro- 
viding summer pasture, and in Indian 
reservations. Over 2,000,000 acres are 
in the Yellowstone National Park. Fed- 
eral withdrawals for oil reserves, phos- 
phate lands, and for other public purposes 
account for another 2,250,000 acres. Tax 
burdens fall heavily on the privately 
owned part of this large, sparsely settled 
State. It maintains an excellent system 
of highways and gives to its people and 



visitors police protection, education, 
health inspection, and everything de- 
manded by a modern civilization. 

Wyoming is rich in natural resources. 
It has large amounts of timber, coal, pe- 
troleum, and the precious metals. These 
are gradually being depleted. To prevent 
deterioration of the State and to meet in- 
creasing demands for public outlay there 
is a need for the establishment of new 
resources more permanent in character 
which can maintain its population and 
increase its taxable wealth. Reclamation 
of its desert land is one of the ways of 
accomplishing this. Wyoming has con- 
tributed $34,293,000 to the reclamation 
fund. Of this, $26,000,000 are proceeds 
of the oil-leasing act. Five great rivers 
derive all or a large part of their flow 
from this State. These are the Yellow- 
stone, Bighorn, North Platte, Green, and 
Snake Rivers. Wyoming waters flow to 
the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, 
and the Gulf of California. The dis- 
charge of these and smaller streams 
approximates 10,000,000 acre-feet a year 
at the State line. No one should object 
to a conservative extension of reclama- 
tion in this State to aid its 225,000 people 
in maintaining a prosperous Common- 
wealth in the Union. What has been said 
of Wyoming is quite largely true in other 
Western States. Their growth and pros- 
perity are dependent on water conserva- 
tion and the extension of their irrigated 
areas. 

ECONOMIC FEASIBILTY 

In making these extensions as much at- 
tention must be given to the quality of the 
soil to be reclaimed, the character of 
crops that can be grown under irrigation, 
the selection of people who should occupy 
these farms and to their well-being as 
has been given to the adequacy of the 
water supply and the design and con- 




DOWNSTREAM FACE or SHOSHONE DAM, SHOSHONE PROJECT, WYOMING 



132 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 1929 



struction of the works. Studies are now 
made in advance of construction and all 
poor soils, those heavily charged with 
alkali and lands of rough surface, are 
eliminated from the project. Canals are 
built only for lands suitable for farming 
under irrigation. Our economic investi- 
gations include an analysis of the crops 
that can be grown, crop rotations most 
likely to succeed, and estimates of the 
costs of developing farms and the in- 
comes which can reasonably be expected. 
Under this plan a fair forecast can be 
made of the earning power of projects. 
To be sound and economically feasible, 
project analyses must indicate enough 
probably income to maintain a fair 
standard of living for the settlers and 
return project costs to the Government 
within the time limits provided by law. 
Adequate long-time and intermediate 
credit at low rates of interest to supple- 
ment settler's capital must yet be pro- 
vided by some agency to make farms 
profitable soon after settlement. 

RECLAMATION PROJECTS DO NOT AFFECT 
THE SURPLUS PROBLEM 

We buy each year some $800,000,000 
worth of agricultural products that we do 
not produce. These consist of seeds, 
fruits, sugar, and many other items which 
are or can be produced in this country: 
Before the war most of our clover seed 
was imported from Belgium. Now, the 
best seed is produced in the arid West 
under irrigation. Sugar-beet seed is prac- 
tically all imported from Germany. Ex- 
periments prove that it can be produced 
here. During the World War the Great 
Western Sugar Co. operated a number of 
beet-seed farms. Domestic seed would 
be better suited to our climate and aid 
in an increase in yields with increased 





CORBETT DIVERSION DAM, SBOSHONE PROJECT, 
WYOMING 

farm income. When we import seed, 75 
to 90 cents out of every dollar paid there- 
for goes out of the country. We should 
not be dependent on any country for our 
seed supply. Favorable moisture condi- 
tions and dry weather during harvest on 
irrigation projects help to produce seeds 
of bright color and high germination test 
with greater freedom from plant diseases 
and insect pests than in humid regions. 
The most damaging plant diseases and 
insect pests are of foreign importation and 
largely come into the country with im- 
ported seeds or plants. The inroads of 
the Japanese beetle are well known. 




J. C. COULEE FLUME, WILLWOOU DIVISION, SHOSHONE PROJECT, WYOMING 



The recent outbreak of the Mediterranean 
fruit fly is threatening the fruit and vege- 
table industry not only of Florida but of 
the entire South, and to a certain extent 
of the whole United States. The battle 
being waged by the States and Federal 
Government against these enemies of agri- 
culture is costing tens of millions of dollars 
annually. The losses to the farmers total 
infinitely more. Domestic production of 
seeds and of agricultural products adapted 
to our irrigation projects will reduce pay- 
ments to foreign countries and mini- 
mize risks of infestations with improve- 
ment in economic conditions to the 
country as a whole. 

Reclamation projects are gradually 
filling this gap. The Yuma project is 
producing avocados and alfalfa seed, 
the Idaho projects, clover seed, and the 
Montana projects certified seed potatoes 
for planting in the South. Bean and pea 
seeds are produced on a large number of 
projects. The field is almost unlimited 
as climatic variations range from the semi- 
tropical of the Salt River and Yuma 
projects in Arizona to the colder tem- 
perate climate of northern Montana. 

RECLAMATION IS FARM RELIEF 

Reclamation work in many localities is 
largely a measure of farm relief to alleviate 
distress resulting from inadequate water 
supply on areas covered by irrigation sys- 
tems privately constructed. The Owyhee 
Dam in Idaho now under construction 
will bring gravity water to a half dozen 
pump districts along the Snake River hav- 
ing burdensome charges. The Echo Res- 
ervoir in Utah will furnish late water to 
irrigate the crops along the Weber River 
in that State. At Kittitas, in Washing- 
ton, the Government works will furnish 
water to a large number of farmers whose 
supply from creeks fails in June and July 
every year. The Boulder Canyon project 
combines flood control, supplemental 
water to a large irrigated region, enlarge- 
ment of water supplies for growing cities, 
and towns in the Southwest, and the gen- 
eration of electric energy. It will bring 
relief to a large number of farmers and 
promote the growth of nearby cities and 
towns. 

The Government has been committed 
to the national policy of reclamation for 27 
years. In that time some mistakes have 
been made, but on the whole the results 
have been of incalculable benefit to the 
States and to the Nation. Large under- 
takings will be needed in the future. Most 
of these will combine flood control, irriga- 
tion, and power development in some 
form. They will involve the administra- 
tion of interstate streams. The Govern- 
ment is the best agency to finance and con- 
: struct these projects. 



September 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



133 



"How the Other Fellow Does It 



FOR a number of years the NEW 
RECLAMATION ERA has from time to 
time printed articles by successful water 
users describing their experiences in at- 
taining success on the Federal reclamation 
projects. Frequently this success has 
been the result of what, on their face, ap- 
pear to be only slight modifications of 
former farm practice, the application of 
which has materially increased the farm 
income and made it possible for the water 
user to pay his charges to the Government 
with a smile. Naturally we are interested 
in more smiles and more dollars for the 
water users, as they usually spell content- 
ment and prosperity. 

If stories of your own individual success 
will help others not so fortunate to get 
started on the road to success, we are anx- 
ious to print them in the NEW RECLAMA- 
TION ERA. What we are trying to say has 
been said so well in a recent letter that 
we are printing it in full below, in the 
hope that it will result in bringing a 
flood of manuscripts over the editor's 
desk, telling the struggling newcomer on 
a project how his more successful neighbor 
"does it." 

Mr. GEORGE C. KREUTZER, 

Bureau of Reclamation, 

Washington, D. C. 

DEAR MR. KRECTZER: I believe that a 
page in the NEW RECLAMATION ERA, de- 
voted to how the other fellow does it, 
would prove of much benefit to men who 
are making a start on raw land. This 
might cover crop plans to give the maxi- 
mum amount of feed per acre for the first 
two or three years; simple plans for 
chicken houses or sheds that will be 
within reach of the average homesteader; 
selection of seeds and seeding dates to 
provide feed for milch cows and chickens 
at a low cost; or other methods used by 
successful settlers on other western proj- 
ects which might be applied here or in 
other localities with similar conditions. 

If a new settler can produce feed for 
one or two milch cows and a few chickens 
the first year, he is practically assured of 
a living. But if he is obliged to put out 
the cash for food for his family and for- 
age for his livestock, he is using money 
that should go into improvements and 
more livestock. And it will cripple him 
so seriously that it will take him years 
to reach a point where he will have some 
spare cash to use as working capital. I 
believe that every man who has taken 
land on this project within the last three 
years would be worthy of a loan for im- 
provements, but since this is in the future, 
they can be aided by the practical appli- 
cation of the experience gained on older 



projects. Any idea that will help them 
to conserve their cash for investment in 
livestock or poultry as fast as they can 
produce the feed would certainly help 
them over the hard spots. 

Our soil will produce an abundant sup- 
ply of alfalfa and sweet clover, but it 
takes two years before the land can be 
pastured at a profit. Then the settler 
will need a good fence, a well, some sheds 
for shelter, and hay tools before he can 
handle stock. And we must not over- 
look the comfort of his family. All of 
these things take capital, which he can 
not borrow for the' reason that he does 
not have title to the land, so that every 
dollar that he can save during the first 
two years counts. Not all men will profit 
by the experience of others, but if only 
one or two would take hold and make 
their places pay from the start, others 
would fall in line. Peas and oats might 
prove to be an excellent first-year crop 
for hay, and if the combination has been 
tried out on other projects our people 
would be interested in knowing the rate 
of seeding and the best date to plant and 
the amount of hay that they might cut 
under ordinary conditions. 

The small grains seem to do best here 
on ground that has been allowed to lie 
over one year or where they follow a 
cultivated crop like corn or potatoes. 
It would help our people if they knew 
what others .had produced by following 
this plan. If some woman on one of the 
projects has a large income from chickens, 
turkeys, a garden plot, or if she made her 
home more comfortable by careful plan- 
ning inside and a few native shrubs and 
trees on the outside, it would certainly 



interest the women who were real home 
makers on other projects. This informa- 
tion makes good reading and it helps to 
keep away a desire to walk off the place 
when they have nothing but a shack 
stuck out in the sage brush, with sand 
drifting in through the windows and a 
bunch of hungry stock looking for feed 
and water. The individual settler is the 
man who makes things go and it is the 
crop that he can produce on 1 acre that 
spells success or failure for him, so why 
leave him to flounder around in a country 
that is probably new to him, when a little 
aid would point the way to progress with 
added returns for his labor and less hard- 
ship for his family. 

Yours very truly, 



Viewing Boulder Dam Site 
By Airplane 

On June 26, 1929, Dr. Elwood Mead, 
Commissioner of Reclamation, R. F. 
Walter, chief engineer, and Louis C. 
Hill, consulting engineer, with others, 
went by airplane from Los Angeles to 
the site of the Boulder Dam in Black 
Canyon on the Colorado River. While 
flying at 12,000 feet above the dam site, 
the following statement was written and 
signed by the members of the party: 

"As a record of our trip from Los 
Angeles to El Centre in the ship Rio 
Grande, leaving Los Angeles at four 
minutes to five Wednesday evening and 
arriving in El Centre at 6.45, this is 
written and signed by us 12,000 feet 
above sea level, and our wish is that at 
any time in the future when we may find 
ourselves 'in the air' it will develop into 
as gratifying an experience." 




READY FOE THE FLIGHT TO BOULDER DAM SITE. 1. R. F. WALTER, CHIEF ENGINEER; 2. Louis C. HILL, 
CONSULTING ENGINEER; 3. DR. ELWOOD MEAD, COMMISSIONER OF RECLAMATION 



134 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 1929 




Reclamation Project W omen and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Boys' and Girls' Club Work on Federal Reclamation Projects 



CLUB worK among grown-ups on 
Federal reclamation projects has 
been treated in preceding issues of the 
ERA and showed a lively interest and 
beneficial effect. 

The young folks are just as proud of 
their club work and desire to know what 
other projects are doing along this line. 
It is my purpose, therefore, to present 
their activities in successive issues of the 
EBA, starting with this one. 

This club work among growing boys 
and girls incites competition and develops 
leaders. It should be encouraged in 
every way. 

UNCOMPAHGRE PROJECT, COLORADO 

This project has an enrollment of 400 
in 4-H Club work, 143 being boys and 
257 being girls. Of the girls, 36 carried 
projects in crops or livestock, including 
poultry, during 1928. 

The club makes a good showing on the 
financial value of the work during the past 
calendar year. 



Kind of club 


Number 
enrolled 


Value 


Profit 


Corn (570 bushels) 
Sugar beets (176 tons) ... 
Dairy and beef-.- 


11 
16 
14 


$570.00 
1, 320. 00 
825.00 


$165. 00 
561. 17 
201.25 


Sheep 


50 


2 535 50 


1 138 00 


Pigs 


31 


844.44 


221.03 


Poultry- - 


51 






Turkeys ' . 




1,117.00 


789. 52 


Chickens 




887.65 


559.24 


Clothing (articles made). 


124 


484.84 




Foods' 


97 


832.27 


161 72 











' 10 members; 273 birds raised. 

1 41 members; 1,123 birds raised. 

1 Canning club members 26; 2,860 jars. 

Total value of club products, exclusive 
of food clubs, other than canning, 
$9,416.70. Total profits on club products 
exclusive of clothing clubs and food clubs, 
other than canning, $3,796.93. 

Senator John J. Tobin offered a fine 
silver trophy last year for the member of 
the livestock or crops clubs doing the most 
outstanding piece of work for the year. 
This was awarded to Melvin Sumner. 

He raised 290 turkeys, of which he sold 
190 for $993.37 on the Thanksgiving 
market. He estimates the 100. birds left 
on hand to be worth $365. His total 
expense, including the value of the 15 
birds he started with, amounts to $402.64, 
making an estimated net profit of $955.73. 
He hatched 360 birds and had very little 
loss except from dogs. Only half of these 



should be credited to him as he was in 
partnership with his grandmother. His 
flock contracted a severe case of roup, and 
Melvin treated, individually, over 200 
birds for this disease, and some of them 
several times, by draining off the pus and 
injecting the swellings with argyrol solu- 
tion, without the loss of a bird. 



Boys and Girls Clubs 
Uncompahgre Project 

(Titles to illustrations) 

1. Montrose County Sugar Beet 

Club with local leaders. 

2. Poultry clubs and leaders visiting 

California Mesa turkey farm. 

3. Livestock club studying Duroc- 

Jersey hogs. 

4. Montrose County delegation to 

Stale fair. 

5. Fairview Livestock Club on stock- 

judging tour. 

6. Lila Sumner and Alma Green, 

Stale champion poultry demon- 
stration team, 1928. They rep- 
resented Montrose County at. 
the Western National Slock 
Show, Denver, 1929. 

7. Pea Green First-Year Clothing 

Club starting for a club meeting. 

8. Donald Clark, Helen Faast, and 

Gordon Carkhuff, stock-judging 
team at Slate fair, 1928 

9. Winning exhibit in western sec- 

tion, comprising 11 Stales, at 
national canning contest, 1928, 
packed by Hazel-Atlas Good 
Luck Canning Club, Montrose 
County. 

10. Wilna Hall and Alice Slicker, 

baking demonstration team, 
winners of first place in baking 
contest, Slate fair, 1928. 

11. Donald Clark, county pig club 

champion, 1928, with sow and 
litter from which he made a 
Profit of $63.92 this year. 

12. Pea Green Turkey Club at home 

of Melvin Sumner and part of 
of flock of 290 turkeys raised 
by him. 



Each year certain of the club cham- 
pions, depending upon the amount of 
competition in the various clubs, as well 
as demonstration teams, are sent to the 
State fair, either as rewards for work 
done, or to enter into competition in the 
State demonstration contests. 

In 1928 the following club champions 
and demonstration teams were sent to 
the State fair: Champions, Elbert Bal- 
drey, poultry; Roy Manuel, corn; Donald 
Clark, pig; Lois Kelley, meal preparation; 
Dale Marsh, sheep; Lloyd Monell, sugar 
beet; Verna Stryker, advanced canning, 
reserve champion; Beulah Mae LaBarr, 
third-year clothing; Edith Price, fourth- 
year clothing; Jean Price, second-year 
clothing; Gladys Walstrom, first-year 
clothing; Hazel Richards, reserve cham- 
pion canning, third-year foods; Maude 
Smith, reserve champion, third-year cloth- 
ing. Demonstration teams, stock judg- 
ing, Donald Clark, Gordon Carkhuff and 
Helen Faast; poultry demonstration, 
Lila Sumner and Alma Green; baking 
demonstration, Alice Elicker and Wilna 
Hall; clothing demonstration, Beulah 
Mae LaBarr and Fern Button. 

The following awards were received at 
the State fair in demonstration contests 
or on exhibits: First place among baking 
teams, first and championship by the 
poultry demonstration team, State can- 
ning championship, by Beulah Mae 
LaBarr, and second in canning by Hazel 
Richards. State poultry championship, 
by Clyde Scarlett, who showed the highest 
scoring pen of chickens in open class, and 
third in poultry, by Elbert Baldrey; a 
blue ribbon in health contest by Lois 
Kelley, and red ribbons by Wilna Hall and 
Gordon Carkhuff. 

The State champion demonstration 
team in poultry was taken to Denver 
as guests of the Western National Stock 
Show Association in January of this year, 
where they gave several demonstrations 
on the control of internal parasites of 
poultry. Beulah Mae LaBarr also won 
a trip to the Western National Stock- 
Show as State Canning Club champion. 

For the past two years Montrose 
County has participated in the national 
canning contest held in Chicago by the 
Hazel-Atlas Glass Jar Co. of Wheeling, 
W. Va. Both years the Montrose 
County club, designated as .the Hazel- 
Atlas Good Luck Canning Club, has won 



September 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



135 



UNCOMPAHGRE PROJECT. COLORADO | 




130 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 19SM 



the first prize on club exhibit in the 
11 Western States, besides winning :i large 
number of individual premiums. There 
were 16 girls in this club in 1928. 

One of the most outstanding features 
of the 4-H Club work in Mont rose County 
has been the sheep elub, practically all of 
the members of which own pure-bred 
Hampshire sheep. Mont rose County has 
become noted as headquarters in Colorado 
for pure-bred Hampshire sheep, which is 
largely due to the work of the Sheep Club. 
The past two years the Hampshire ex- 
hibit at the Montrose Fair has been the 
principal feature of the livestock exhibit 
and has been the largest Hampshire sheep 



show ever held in the State, including the 
Western National Show at Denver and 
the State fair. 

One of the valuable features of 4-H 
Club work is the development of leader- 
ship among the club members. For the 
past two or three years former club mem- 
bers have been taking places of leadership 
in their communities, including the local 
leader-ship of 4-H Clubs, in which they 
have almost invariably made fine records. 
The case of Wilna Hall, of Olathe, is cited 
as an outstanding example of this work. 
Miss Hall, who is still of club age, carried 
two club projects in 1928, winning a 
county championship in one of them, as 



Boulder Dam Fostered by 

Yuma Conservation Club 



\ RECENT issue of the Yuma Morn- 
J /\. ing Sun chronicles the organization 
of the Yuma Conservation Club, follow- 
ing the visit there of Dr. Elwood Mead, 
Commissioner of Reclamation. The idea 
of the club was germinated at that time, 
with a view to advocating a golden mean 
in arriving at an amicable settlement of 
the stand taken by Arizona concerning 
the construction of Boulder Dam and the 
development of the Colorado River 
Basin. The preamble to the constitution 
of the club is as follows: 

PREAMBLE 

In view of the fact that construction of 
a dam on the Colorado River at Black 
Canyon and the construction of the 
all-American canal are reasonably cer- 
tain, and that conditions on the lower 
Colorado River will be materially affected 
thereby; and in view of the immensity of 
the results affecting our own locality, the 
Yuma country should evince the liveliest 
interest in everything pertaining to 
Colorado River development. 

In view of the controversies which have 
arisen over river legislation, the Yuma 
country has been singularly quiescent. 
We are part of Arizona yet immediate 
neighbor to the great Imperial Valley. 
In large measure what affects Imperial 
affects Yuma and what affects Arizona 
affects Yuma. 

The first object of a local conservation 
club is clearly the interests of its own lo- 
cality; and the first object of this organi- 
zation should be the furtherance of the 
interests of our own territory comprising 
in a general way the Bard or San Pascuale 
Valley, in California, and Yuma Valley, 
Yuma Mesa, North and South Gila 
Valleys, and the city of Yuma, in Arizona, 



which are roughly designated as Yuma 
project or the Yuma country. 

The Colorado River development will 
materially affect our plans for the genera- 
tion of electrical energy and we purpose 
to secure for our project the highest 
returns obtainable without infringing on 
the rights of other districts. We should 
have faithful and experienced servants 
keeping us in the closest touch with the 
events of river development and who will 
keep us posted on every detail thereof. 

But in this day of the highest coopera- 
tive developments we should work in 
harmony with other organizations; and 
to that end this organization may be the 
most useful by working, so far as possible, 
in harmony with 

Yuma County Water Users' Associa- 
tion, Arizona Colorado River Commis- 
sion, Yuma Bureau of Reclamation, 
United States Bureau of Reclamation, 
Laguna Irrigation District, Yuma Mesa 
Unit Holders Association, Yuma Cham- 
ber of Commerce, Imperial Irrigation 
District, and American Conservation 
Club. 

And because they have not yet come to 
a harmonious understanding, one of our 
high aims should be to bring about an 
agreement between the Arizona and Cali- 
fornia river commissions. Our close 
relations with Imperial Valley and our 
position as the district in Arizona most 
vitalh' affected by Colorado River devel- 
opment legislation give us a peculiarly 
strong standing to ask for and work for 
harmony between the river commissions 
of these States. 

OBJECTS 

The objects of this club are: 

(1) The upbuilding of our territory 
and the material success of the residents 
thereof. 



well as being on the demonstration team 
which won first in its class at the State 
fair. She also led two first-year clubs, 
one in clothing and one in meal prepara- 
tion, developing a county champion in 
each, in addition to training a demon- 
stration team that stood second in the 
demonstration contest at the county fair. 
Miss Hall was also one of the State health 
champions selected at the State fair. Be- 
sides all this, she is an accomplished musi- 
cian and taught a class in music during 
part of the past summer. 

The photographs give a fine illustration 
of junior activities on the Uncompahgre 
project, of which they can justly be proud. 



(2) Acceptance of the fact that Boulder 
Canyon (or Black Canyon) Dam will be 
built and All-American canal constructed, 
to secure the highest benefits therefrom 
to our territory. 

(4) To aid and assist in and work for a 
complete understanding and agreement 
between the Colorado Basin States and 
between the three lower Basin States, 
and the adoption by Arizona of the com- 
pact between the Basin States. 

(5) To secure harmony in all develop- 
ment work between Imperial Irrigation 
District and Yuma project. 

(6) The utilization of the work of every 
public organization in our territory to- 
ward a harmonious conclusion of pend- 
ing endeavors to carry out river develop- 
ment plans. 

(7) And generally, to assist in the 
bringing of the highest development to 
the entire Southwest. 



A Correction For The 
Shoshone Project 

In the August issue of the NEW RECLA- 
MATION ERA, in the article on Project 
Club Activities, the statement was made 
that "two towns are located on the 
Shoshone project, Deaver and Frannie, 
each with a population of a little less 
than 100. It has one bank, two churches, 
and two schools, and the population of 
the irrigated farms is approximately 600." 

This statement is in error. As a 
matter of fact the main towns on the 
Shoshone project are Powell, Deaver, 
and Frannie. The largest is Powell, 
with a population of about 1,500. There 
are about 3,800 people on the project, 
about 1,700 of whom live in the five 
towns on the project. There are eight 
churches on the Garland division and 
two church organizations on the Frannie 
division. Consolidated schools at Powell 
and Deaver serve nearly all the project 
and some small adjacent communities. 
Powell and Deaver also have complete 
4-year high schools. 



September 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



137 



Weed Control in Irrigation Canals, New South Wales, Australia 

By T. M. Wilson, Superintendent of Water Distribution and Engineer for Maintenance, Yanco Area, Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas 



DURING the latter part of the 1928 
irrigation season a weed-cutting 
launch was purchased for use in the main 
and branch canals in order that the g/owth 
of water weeds could be held in check, as 
some trouble had been experienced and 
the flow retarded owing to an excessive 
growth of water weeds of the trailing 
variety. 

Good results have been obtained in the 
main canal below Berembed Weir, also on 
the Mirrool area near Yenda, and the 
launch was recently returned to the weir, 
as it is thought that should the coming 
winter prove a mild one, with few frosts, 
the growth of weeds will necessitate the 
constant use of the launch from the early 
part of the season. 

With the rapid extension of the rice in- 
dustry and consequent increase in the de- 
mand for water, it was essential that both 
supply and drainage channels should be 
maintained so that they would function 
efficiently, and with the object in view of 
increasing the mileage dealt with, rather 
than decreasing the annual cost of main- 
tenance, various devices were made and 
tried out which have proved of consider- 
able benefit. 

The accompanying illustration shows 
three implements which have been used 
during the past season with success, par- 
ticularly No. 1 . The best results have been 
obtained with this implement when work- 
ing in water from 2 feet to 3 feet 6 inches 
deep, and after cutting it has been noted 
that although the weeds grow again they 
are very scattered; in fact, Cumbungie cut 
during the early part of the 1927-28 sea- 



son is still not so dense as before the first 
cutting took place. It is hoped to experi- 
ment further with an implement of this 
type during the coming season to endeavor 
to reduce the weight without reducing the 
efficiency. 

No. 2 is an implement of a somewhat 
heavier type and was designed to give 
temporary relief as speedily as possible in 
drainage channels where flooding was 
taking place, and consists of a 4 by 4 by 
}'i inch angle-iron frame to which is fitted 
a double moldboard designed to throw the 
weeds, etc., to either side, leaving a clear 
passage down the center of channels. On 
the underside of the angle iron a cutting 
blade is fitted, made of 4 by J4 inch 
spring steel drawn out to a fairly fine edge 
and ground. The implement is drawn by 
two hojses on each side of the drain at- 
tached to a wide spreader, from which a 
single wire cable about 20 feet long is 
hooked to a drawbar on the nose of the 
cutter almost level with the bottom of the 
angle-iron frame. Although this imple- 
ment has done good work it requires some 
alteration and will be again tested during 
the coming season and the necessary al- 
teration made. 

No. 3 is a somewhat lighter implement 
and has been used with success in cutting 
not only the trailing variety of weed but 
also the young growth of Cumbungie after 
it has first been cut with implement No. 
1. It consists of a V frame of 5 by 
% inch spring steel to the underside of 
which is fitted a serrated blade of 4 by % 
inch spring steel, drawn out and ground. 
This implement is not more than about 



120 pounds in weight and can be easily 
drawn by one horse on each side of the 
supply or drainage channel and is hitched 
up in the same manner as No. 2. 

All three implements have been made 
adjustable and can be altered to suit any 
width of channel up to say 8 feet bed 
width, but it has been found that the most 
efficient width of setting is between 30 and 
40 degrees. 

The weeds when cut float to the surface 
immediately, and in order that their re- 
moval can be carried out more expedi- 
tiously two or three No. 8 wires are placed 
diagonally across the channel at about the 
surface of the water and drawn taut. 
This has the effect of holding up the weeds 
to a very great extent and, provided there 
is sufficient velocity, the weeds collect in 
large masses on the wires, along which 
they travel to the bank of the channel, 
from which point they can be easily re- 
moved with pitchforks or horse-drawn 
grappling hooks. 



Many dairymen who do not now utilize 
much alfalfa hay would become buyers if 
supplies of high-grade hay were available 
at all times. 



Characteristics of high-grade alfalfa hay 
are purity, a high percentage of leaves, 
clinging foliage, green color, and pliable 
stems. 



The foundation of the business of pro- 
ducing alfalfa hay for market is a good, 
pure, stand. 







TYPES OF IMPLEMENTS USED IN AUSTRALIA FOR WEED CONTROL IN IRRIGATION CANALS 



138 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 1929 



Deadwood Dam, Boise Project, Idaho 

Work Starts on Concrete Arch Dam on the Deadwood River, Idaho 



\ CONTRACT has recently been 
y~X awarded to the Utah Construction 
Co., of Ogden, Utah, to build the Dead- 
wood Dam on the Deadwood River, a 
branch of the South Fork of the Payette 
River in Idaho. This will give the Boise 
irrigation project a third high dam in 
addition to the Arrowrock, which is 349 
feet in height, and the Black Canyon, 183 
feet high. The dam site is about 60 miles 
northeast of Boise. Although only 25 
miles by direct line, it is 67 miles by road 
from Cascade, Idaho, the nearest railroad 
station, on the Idaho Northern branch of 
the Oregon Short Line Railroad. 

ADDITIONAL POWER MADE AVAILABLE 

The reservoir will have a storage 
capacity of 160,000 acre-feet. Run-off 
records at the Lowman station 15 miles 
below the dam site show an average for 
the six years 1922-1927, inclusive, of 
276,400 acre-feet. The storage will be 
utilized to afford a regulated flow for the 
power plant at Black Canyon on the 
Payette River. This plant supplies 
power for pumping to the Gem Irrigation 
District of 30,000 acres and five other 
districts smaller than the Gem, whose 
development is threatened because of 
the otherwise very heavy ccst of pump- 
ing varying from $7 to $10 per acre. 
Under present conditions, there is a serious 
shortage of water for power purposes 
during the peak of the irrigation season 
in July and August, and the output of 
the power plant is greatly reduced during 
this period. Construction of the Dead- 
wood Reservoir will relieve this condi- 
tion, and make 8,000 kilowatts of firm 
power available throughout the irriga- 
tion season. Additional power is also 
needed in the construction of the Owyhee 
Dam and irrigation works now under 
way on the Owyhee project in eastern 
Oregon. The Gem Irrigation District 
has contracted for and will eventually 
receive gravity water under the Owyhee 
project. 

Revenues from the sale of this power 
are expected to return the cost of the 
Deadwood Reservoir. The estimated 
construction cost of the reservoir is 
$1,200,000, or $7.50 per acre-foot, of 
which $800,000 has already been appro- 
priated. Approximately $795,000 is now 
available, of which $395,000 is from the 
second deficiency act for the fiscal year 
1928 and $400,000 from the fiscal year 
1929. 

The bid of the Utah Construction Co. 
was the lowest received, amounting to 
$673,485 for construction of the dam, ap- 



purtenant works, and construction road. 
This figure docs not include cost of cement, 
steel, outlet gates, or other material which 
will be supplied by the Government. 
No satisfactory bid was received for 
clearing the reservoir site and therefore 
all bids on this item were rejected and the 
work is being readvertised. No improved 
lands will be submerged by the reservoir. 

ROAD CONSTRUCTION 

The site is in the Payette National 
Forest and because of its inaccessibility 
the transportation problem is important. 
It will be necessary to haul materials 67 
miles by road from the railroad at Cas- 
cade. For 58} miles of this distance, the 
Forest Service Highway from Cascade to 
Lowman will be used, and the contractor 
must build 8 l /z miles of construction road 
to connect this Forest Service Highway 
with the reservoir site. The construc- 
tion of this 8}^-mile road will be the first 
work required under the contract. This 
bureau is cooperating with the Forest 
Service in surfacing and otherwise im- 
proving the highway in from Cascade, be- 
tween Bear Valley and Pen Basin, by 
paying a part of the cost, the work being 
done by the Forest Service. 

Upon completion of the construction 
road, it will be turned over to the con- 
tractor for his use during the construction 
of the dam and the contractor shall 
maintain it without cost to the Govern- 
ment until the contract is completed. At 
the close of the contract, the road, to- 
gether with structures, is to be returned 
to the Government. The road bed 
sections are 14 and 16 foot widths. 

CONCRETE ARCH TYPE OF DAM 

A board of engineers, comprising A. J. 
Wiley and D. C. Henny, consulting engi- 
neers, W. H. Nalder, engineer of the 
Denver office, and R. J. Newell, superin- 
tendent of the Boise project, made a 
report on the reservoir project in August, 
1927. Three types of dams were con- 
sidered by the board, which advised that 
studies be made of a concrete arch, rock 
fill with gravel face and rock fill with con- 
crete face. Conditions at the site were 
found to be favorable for any one of these 
types, but after comparative studies the 
concrete arch type was adopted. Founda- 
tion conditions are excellent, the dam site 
being formed by a gorge in a massive 
hard granite ridge which closes the south 
side of the reservoir and is part of a general 
granite formation surrounding the entire 
basin. The granite extends at shallow 



depth clear across the river and rises 
abruptly on either side. 

Good gravel and sand for concrete are 
close at hand in the reservoir basin in 
unlimited quantities and tests made with 
this material in Denver showed 2,000 to 
2,200 pounds per square inch compressive 
strength in 28 days for a 1-2-4 mix, and 
washing the sand did not increase the 
strength. 

THE DAM 

The dam will be of the concrete arch 
type with an upstream radius of 290 feet. 
It will be about 160 feet in height above 
the foundation bedrock, and about 700 
feet long on the crest. The main struc- 
ture will require 50,000 cubic yards of 
concrete. The spillway section will be of 
the open overflow type discharging over 
the central portion of the dam, this sec- 
tion being 6 feet below the top of the dam. 
An independent spillway is not necessary, 
as the spill which will usually not exceed 
3,000 second-feet and may never exceed 
10,000 second-feet, will not materially 
erode the rock of either the abutments or 
the bottom. No apron will be necessary. 

Reservoir outlets will be provided 
through the lower portion of the dam and 
will comprise two 66-inch diameter con- 
duits controlled by 4.5 by 4.5 foot high- 
pressure gates and 54-inch balanced 
needle valves. 

Diversion during construction will be 
through the outlet conduits. The specifi- 
cations call for grouting and drainage 
systems, with the drilling of 6,000 linear 
feet of grout and drainage holes and plac- 
ing 1,900 cubic feet of grout. It is 
intended to drill grout holes in the bottom 
of the upstream cut-off trench at about 
5-foot intervals. 

Among the principal items and esti- 
mated quantities involved in the contract 
are 22,000 cubic yards of all classes of 
excavation for the dam; 33,000 cubic 
yards of all classes of excavation for the 
construction road; mixing and placing 
51,000 cubic yards of concrete; manufac- 
turing and placing 10,500 linear feet of 
concrete drain tile; placing 75,000 pounds 
of reinforcement bars; installing 514,000 
pounds of structural steel and other metal 
work; and erecting 32 M feet b. m. in 
bridges. 

It was originally hoped to begin con- 
struction of the dam a year ago. How- 
ever, the bureau had difficulty in acquiring 
right of way, as there were two groups of 
placer mineral claims in the reservoir 
site as to the value of which there was 
difficulty in coming to terms with the 



September 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



139 




3 4 

2 ,-->Top of Dam f I snap *- -- 1 ropof Para/let CI.S3i3.S-jS 

Nan 




NOTE- After the foundation Excavation is 
completed the Thickness of the Dam near 
the Abutments may be increased by shortening 
the Downstream Radius The amount of this 
increase will depend on the Depth of Excavation 
below the Oriqinal Ground Surface. 



UPSTREAM ELEVATION 

(DEVELOPED) 



:.ffl.5M3S 



N'XS 1533*0-; 




AREA IN HUNDREDS OF ACRES 
n O 5 10 IS 20 25 30 




2-tS,4l'Hiqh 

Pressure Gates 

-2- 54' 'Balanced 

Needle valves 

tf I JIM S3 



50 75 100 115 150 175 WO 

NEEDLE VALVE DISCHARGE IN TENS OF SECOf4D FEET 

SPILLWAY DISCHARGE IN HUNDREDS OF SECOND FEET 

STORAGE IN THOUSANDS OF ACRE FEET 

CAPACITY CURVES 



f ley a f ion of Bucket to''- 
Ue determined in Field- 
SPILLWAY SECTION 



\--? 'Drain Holes S'crs 
Grout Holes. S'crs. 
OUTLET SECTION 



DEPARTMENT Or THE INTERIOR 

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 
BOISE PROJECT- IDAHO- PAYETTE DIVISION 

DEADWOOD DAM 
PLAN, ELEVATION AND SECTIONS 



DRAWN 
TSACE0. 
CMCCKfo " 



23334- 



" ""' [3-D-36I 



owners. After a considerable delay, a 
settlement was reached for $15,000 for 
each group. 

On October 19, 1928, the President 
approved the recommendation of the 
Secretary of the Interior as to the feasi- 



bility of the reservoir. The Utah Con- 
struction Co. is scheduled to complete 
the dam in the spring of 1931. This com- 
pany has recently completed for this 
bureau the Gibson Dam on the North 
Fork of Sun River on the Sun River irri- 



gation project, Montana, and had pre- 
viously successfully carried out the con- 
struction of the American Falls dam on 
the Snake River in Idaho, and the Guern- 
sey dam on the North Platte River in 
Wyoming. 



140 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 1929 



Economic Problems of Reclamation in New South Wales, Australia 

By Hon. H. H. Dare, Commissioner, Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission 



UNION HOUSE, 247 GEORGE STREET, 

Sydney, March 25, 1929. 

DEAR DR. MEAD: Your letter of 
January IS last, with the inclosed report 
on Economic Problems of Reclamation on 
the Federal irrigation projects in the 
United States, together with the "Fore- 
word" by yourself, reached me recently, 
and have been read with great interest. 
Your action in making the pamphlet 
available is much appreciated. The con- 
clusions arrived at seem to be very sound, 
and for the most part are borne out by 
our experience in Australia. 

As you are good enough to invite com- 
ments on the contents of the report, it 
seems desirable to give these in the form 
of a brief outline of our experience under 
some of the headings dealt with. 

FINANCING SETTLERS 

Referring firstly to the financing of 
settlers, it has always been found that 
the settler with adequate capital to 
fully develop his farm is quite the excep- 
tion. For the great majority therefore 
it has been compulsory to provide a por- 
tion of the necessary funds on the secur- 
ity of the farm and improvements. The 
Water Conservation and Irrigation Com- 
mission in this State, and the kindred 
body in Victoria and also, I under- 
stand, in Queensland and South Austra- 
lia have power to make advances so 
that settlers having only a portion of the 
necessary capital may be allowed to pro- 
ceed with the work of bringing their 
farms into production with as little de- 
lay as possible. Speaking for New South 
Wales, there would also be the Rural 
Bank, which is empowered to lend not 
only to ordinary settlers on dry farms, 
but also to irrigationists. As a matter 
of fact, for irrigation farms other than 
those occupied by soldiers, who are in a 
special category, the policy of this com- 
mission is to encourage settlers to come 
under the bank's auspices. The bank 
has wide powers. It raises its money by 
the same methods as an ordinary trad- 
ing bank. This money has to be used 
for rural purposes, either in advances to 
individual settlers or to cooperative 
groups. I feel that it will be better to 
let you have the fullest particulars of the 
bank's operations, and will therefore in- 
vite that institution to give you these. 

Although it is the policy to have the 
bank take over the financing of settlers, 
there still remain with the Irrigation 
Commission a large number of clients, 
particularly amongst the earlier settlers, 



and in addition, there are the soldier 
settlers, who took up farms without any 
capital under the Government's policy of 
placing them in agriculture at the termi- 
nation of the war. The practice which 
had to be followed of advancing 100 per 
cent of the necessary capital was not a 
business one. This, combined with a 
general fall in the value of agricultural 
produce, has caused heavy losses through- 
out Australia, which the governments are 
meeting. 

In considering the question of advances 
to settlers, the necessity for good markets 
for irrigation produce must be remem- 
bered. In the United States, with your 
great population, the difficulties under this 
heading are for the most part probably 
not as great as they are here, and Dr. 
Alvin Johnson in stating his excellent 
case for financing settlers, naturally as- 
sumes that they will find satisfactory 
markets when farms are ready to pro- 
duce. Unless this is so, there is no justi- 
fication in going on with development. 
At the same time, the marketing prob- 
lem, as far as this country is concerned, 
is a real one, and forms an additional 
difficulty which has to be overcome, and 
which has to be borne in mind when 
advancing capital. 

Briefly, therefore, it may be stated 
that given adequate market prospects, 
the advancing of capital to settlers on 
reasonable security (say 66% per cent of 
the whole) is perfectly sound, and has 
the great advantage of bringing farms 
into production speedily. 

PREPARATION OF FARMS 

The suggested preparation of land in the 
way of clearing and grading prior to occu- 
pation has much to commend it, particu- 
larly when land can be treated in fairly 
large areas. While this proved costly 
when inexperienced soldier settlers were 
employed in groups soon after the war, 
it has since been carried out with very 
satisfactory results with experienced labor 
under proper supervision. 

CONSTRUCTION COSTS-STATE'S CONTRI- 
BUTION 

Referring to the State's contribution to 
construction costs, you will remember the 
position in the Commonwealth. It is 
necessary for the State to make fairly 
heavy contributions toward irrigation 
schemes. This has in some instances 
taken the form of "free headworks, " 
although loss of interest for other reasons 
has at times to be carried by the State. 



Here the settlers do not become directly 
responsible for any construction charges; 
they are offered land at certain prices and 
water at certain charges. Beyond the 
payment of these they are not concerned 
whether the rents and water rates bear 
any definite relation to construction 
costs. They obtain their holdings at 
market rates. 

The irrigation commission of this State 
is placed in a difficult position in relation 
to obtaining a return on construction 
costs for headwork. By act of Parliament 
settlers may have their rentals reap- 
praised, or may apply for conversion to 
freehold, the values in both cases being 
fixed by the land and valuation court. 
Again the marketing problem arises, and 
is taken into consideration by the court. 
A conversion case came up for decision 
some time ago, and the value then fixed 
governs the commission, with the result 
that lands may have to be offered at con- 
siderably less than cost of land plus works. 
This represents a very definite contribu- 
tion by the State, and when new farms 
are to be made available in the future it 
will be a question of Government policy 
to determine whether the States can con- 
tinue to provide certain types of farms at 
below cost. There is something to be 
said for the State aiding irrigated agricul- 
ture in this way, seeing that the estab- 
lishment of schemes opens up new set- 
tlements, increases population and pro- 
duction, and adds generally to the wealth 
of the State. This is no doubt a warrant 
for allowing free headworks. How much 
farther the system of State contribution 
can be allowed to go will have to be care- 
fully considered. 

BETTERMENT OF PRIVATE LANDS 

The reference to the irrigation of private 
lands by Government works is of great 
interest to us. We are anxious to obtain 
the fullest information as to how the 
restriction of areas privately held, and the 
fixing of sale prices operate where these 
are applied. There appear to be great 
difficulties in fixing the price of land as 
against private holders, although it is 
done as against the State under our system 
referred to under the previous heading. 
It certainly does seem right that the State 
should be reasonably compensated when 
by its expenditures it increases the values 
of land, but seeing that in Australia we 
put down railways and other large public 
works without obtaining any part of the 
betterment, you will see that a big matter 
of policy is involved. This has been con- 
sidered from time to time without finality 



September 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION EKA 



141 



being reached. If you can advise us in 
due course as to your experience, it would 
be of the greatest advantage. 

THE ECONOMICS OF OUR CROP FARMING 

Doctor Branson's observations under 
this heading, particularly in respect of 
cotton and tobacco, are most interesting. 
Our experience does not allow of any 
valuable comments being offered. Since 
Mr. Brady, acting on your suggestion, 
brought back rice seed from the United 
States in 1921, there has been a consider- 
able development in that industry on the 
Murrumbidgee irrigation areas, sufficient 
rice for Australia's requirements being 
produced there now. This crop is a 
machinery crop. It is sown by ma- 
chinery and harvested by machinery. 
Furthermore, there is no encouragement 
for settlers to make it the only crop. As 
a matter of fact, the commission has 
limited the area that can be put under 
rice to 100 acres per farm. Apart from 
the fruit industry on the small farms, it 
can be said that the larger farms on the 
irrigation areas are almost wholly devoted 
to mixed farming e. g., cropping, dairy- 
ing, rice growing, etc. 

PLANNING AHEAD 

As you are aware, the suggested plan- 
ning of settlements has been carried out 
by the States in Australia. Certainly 
there have been mistakes at times, par- 
ticularly in respect of the suitability of 
land for certain varieties of fruits, but on 
the whole the effort at planned community 
buildings has been a success. Lands 
have been cleared in large areas and have 
been subdivided into farms, roads of 
access being provided. In many cases 
clearing and grading have been carried 
out prior to settlement, or financed im- 
mediately afterwards. 

SOCIAL LIFE 

On the irrigation areas in Australia 
there is very little tenant farming. For 
the most part each man works his own 
property. In New South Wales there is a 
residence clause which provides that a 
farm must be the main place of abode of 
the holder. This has been modified to 
allow of suspension of residence where the 
farm is being put to its best use. This 
privilege is taken advantage of only in a 
comparatively small number of cases. 
The result of this is that there is built up 
an excellent community spirit. Settlers 
are organized both for the purpose of 
buying and selling, and for watching their 
general interests. All the usual social 
amenities, churches, schools, banks, and 
amusements are available in the several 



towns that have come into existence on 
the irrigation areas. The cooperative 
societies are perhaps the outstanding 
example of the successful organization of 
settlers for their own welfare. In passing, 
it might be mentioned that in the town of 
Griffith the price fixed by the land court 
recently for a central position was $200 
per foot. 

WHAT TO GROW 

You will have seen in our last annual 
report a reference to the formation of the 
Murray River advisory committee. This 
committee has been created with a view 
to recommending the best use of the 
Murray waters when stored. The idea is 
to avoid any haphazard planting of fruit, 
or the creation of any farming industry 
which may result in overproduction. As 
far as fruit is concerned, this commission 
some years ago formed a planting com- 
mittee consisting of agricultural officers 
and settlers, whose duty it was to advise 
to the best of their knowledge the most 
suitable varieties to plant. The Murray 
River advisory committee will go further 
in that it will examine the economics of 
the various types of irrigated agriculture 
and make the result of this examination 
available prior to any new schemes being 
undertaken. 

SCARCITY OF SETTLERS 

It is gathered that there is a scarcity of 
settlers offering for irrigation farms in the 
United States. This is the case here. In 
Australia it can not be put down to the 
absence of methods of finance. As has 
been shown, adequate provision is made 



and settlers with comparatively small 
capital say $2,500 would be encour- 
aged. The chief reason seems to be the 
marketing difficulty referred to previously. 
When satisfactory markets become avail- 
able, irrigation farming will no doubt 
prove more attractive to the new settler 
than it is at present. The Murray River 
advisory committee considers that mixed 
farming on the lines referred to by Doctor 
Branson has proved sufficiently successful 
in Victoria to warrant its further encour- 
agement, and it is possible that a large 
quantity of the Murray water will be 
used in that direction. 

In conclusion, I would say that the 
above are somewhat sketchy notes on the 
very thoughtful reports you have sent, 
and if there are any special queries arising 
out of my notes, I shall be very glad to do 
what I can to answer them. 

I trust that you and your people are 
keeping in the best of health. 

With kindest regards, in which I am 
joined by Mr. Evatt, who has collabo- 
rated with me in the preparation of the 
above information. 

Yours sincerely, 

H. H. DARE, 

Commissioner. 



E colonization agent employed by 
J_ the Northern Pacific and Great 
Northern Railway Cos. has brought 
several prospective settlers to the Lower 
Yellowstone project from Colorado and 
four of five farms were sold during the 
month. Many more prospects intend to 
visit the project later in the season. 




LOADING 72-lNCH PIPE ON FLAT CAR AT ELLENSBL-RG PIPE PLANT, KITTITAS DIVISION, YAKISIA PROJECT, 

WASHINOTON 



142 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 1929 



Gila River Suspension Bridge, 20 Miles East of \urna, Ariz. 

By C. B. Clege, Acting Office Engineer, Yuma Project 



THIS bridge was designed by the Ari- 
zona State Highway Department and 
is being constructed under their super- 
vision. The State matched funds with 
Yuma County to make the bridge pos- 
sible, the contract price being $153,000. 

The bridge will be the only structure 
for vehicular traffic across the Gila River 
between Antelope Hill and Yuma, a dis- 
tance of some 50 miles. This will provide 
ready accress to market for produce from 
the North Gila Valley at all seasons of the 
year, whereas in the past, with the use of 
small ferries and fords, flash rises in the 
river have seriously interferred with the 
marketing of commodities grown in this 
district and have prohibited the growing of 
perishables, such as lettuce and melons, 
to which this valley is equally as well ad- 
apted as the Yuma Valley and project. 

The bridge is of the suspension type, 
having a clear span length of 800 feet be- 
tween towers. The center span will be 
supported by two 5M-inch cables contain- 
ing 870 strands each of No. 8 hard wire. 
The approach spans are 57 feet and 119 feet 
long, respectively, and are hung on the piers 
supporting the towers. The bridge will 
be anchored in small rock hillson each side 
of the river, the first available bridge site 
of moderate length span above Yuma. It 
will be necessary to construct 6 miles of 
highway connecting the bridge to the 
North Gila Valley proper, and approxi- 
mately % of a mile of road to the present 
highway leading from Dome to Yuma. 

Owing to the absence of surface flow in 
the Gila River during periods of several 
months each year, radical departures are 
possible from the usual construction 
methods employed on bridges of this type. 
Instead of adopting the usual method of 



weaving or stringing the cable in place, 
a piece of overflow land near one anchor- 
age of the bridge was leveled and wooden 
horses placed at 15-foot centers for a dist- 
ance of 1,300 feet (the total length of the 
completed cables). At each end of these 
horses concrete anchors were constructed, 
in which were imbedded two large sup- 
ports bearing sheaves, through which the 
strands were strung. Three cables of 290 
strands each are used in making up each 
of the two main suspension cables. 

Owing to a maximum range of 50 de- 
grees in temperature experienced locally 
during a period of 24 hours, some difficulty 
was experienced as a result of contraction 
of the cable on the wooden horses during 
the cooler hours of the night. At first 
the weaving or stringing was carried on 
during the day with temperatures rang- 
ing as high as 108 F. The strands were 
placed at a tension of 150 pounds at 68 
F., with a correction of 3.8 pounds for 
each degree change in temperature. 
When about through weaving the first 
cable of 290 strands a cool night was ex- 
perienced with a minimum temperature of 
58 with the result that the contraction 
of the unfinished cable on the horses pulled 
out the concrete anchorages. This was 
overcome by weaving at night only during 
the period of maximum contraction. 

The small cables upon completion are 
removed from the horses and pulled into 
place by a drag line and a set of blocks. 
The temporary servings are then removed 
from the three small cables on each side 
of the bridge and these pressed into one 
5/4-inch cable by means of a 5,000-pound 
hydraulic press which clamps the cable 
every 2 feet at which points it is tem- 
porarily served. The cable is then 



painted and a wrapping machine used to 
wrap the cable over its entire length be- 
tween anchorages. The wrapping ma- 
chine, using three wires, is capable of 
wrapping eight inches a minute, less the 
time required in making splices. 

Another departure in construction 
methods made possible by the absence 
of flow in the river is that of starting the 
hanging of the steel at the middle of the 
span and working toward each tower 
rather than the usual practice of starting 
at each tower. 

The steel towers at either end of the 
span are set on saddles on the concrete 
piers and have a deflection of 11 inches 
at the top toward the anchorages. Upon 
suspending the cables and hanging all 
the steel, the towers will be brought to a 
deflection of 3% inches toward the 
anchorages and are so constructed that 
should the designed loading of the bridge 
of 60 pounds per square foot be ever im- 
posed the towers will assume a vertical 
position. 

This structure will be completed by 
the middle of October or the first of 
November and will supply a long-felt 
need in providing a permanent, safe 
crossing of the Gila River for the ranchers 
of the North Gila Valley and others with 
mining and cattle interests in the adjacent 
territory. 

WORK at Echo Dam, Salt Lake 
Basin project, comprised continua- 
tion of the dam fill, excavation of the 
spillway channel, concrete work at the 
lower end of the spillway channel, and 
excavation of the cut-off trench. At the 
end of the month the dam was 45.8 per 
cent completed. 




GILA RIVEB SUSPENSION BRIDGE 



September 1929 



NEW KECLAMATION ERA 



143 



Settlement Questionnaire Used on 

Don Martin Project, Mexico 



IN the July issue of the NEW RECLA- 
MATION ERA we printed an article 
describing the Don Martin project, Mex- 
ico, by Andrew Weiss, resident engineer. 
The National Irrigation Commission has 
prepared a questionnaire, as follows, 
which must be filled out by each appli- 
cant for a farm on the project: 

1. Name. 

2. When and where were you born? 

3. What is your post-office address? 

4. Are you married or single? 

5. How many dependents do you 
support? 

6. How many children have you? 

7. How many sons? 

8. How many sons are over 15 years of 
age? 

9. Physical condition of your family. 

10. Do you read and write? 

11. What other education have you? 

12. How much money in cash do you 
have? 

13. Give a list of the tools and agri- 
cultural machinery you have. 

Experiment Station May Go 
To Yuma Mesa 

There is considerable discussion of the 
possiblity that a Government experi- 
ment station may be established on the 
mesa division of the Yuma project, 
Arizona-California. The benefits of such 
a, station would be considerable, as there 
are 70,000 acres within the Yuma project 
limits and more than double this amount 
outside, which presumably will some day 
be developed. 

It has already been demonstrated that 
"this area is ideal for the growth of citrus 
fruits, and it is believed that an experi- 
ment station would demonstrate con- 
clusively that the locality is equally well 
adapted to the growth of many other 
commercial crops of high value. It is 
believed, for example, that vegetables 
-could be brought on the market from the 
mesa at such a time as to command a 
fancy price, although it is recognized 
that to do this would require proper 
fertilization in conjunction with experi- 
ence and knowledge. The land on the 
mesa will be very much in demand if it 
can be demonstraged that other profit- 
able crops besides citrus fruits can be 
grown there. 



14. Will you need credit? 

15. How much (describe this precisely 
and in detail)? 

16. How much are you earning 
actually? 

17. What is your occupation? 

18. What agricultural work have you 
been doing (give complete details)? 

19. In what branch of agriculture have 
you specialized? 

20. Where have you worked on farms? 

21. Will you cultivate your farm if ac- 
cepted as a colonist? 

22. How much land would you like to 
have in the colony? 

23. Would you like to obtain land free 
of trees, shrubbery, etc., or would you 
prefer to clear it yourself? 

24. Do you expect to employ farm 
labor, or do you expect to do the work 
yourself? 

25. When would you be ready to come 
to the colony if you were accepted as a 
colonist? 



26. Would you favor a cooperative or- 
ganization, and would you like to be a 
member of it in the colony? 

27. If the commission should offer to 
lease the land to you or give it under a 
partnership contract, in order that you 
may have an opportunity to learn the 
particular conditions of the colony before 
establishing yourself definitely there, 
would you like to begin your work as a 
lessee, or as a partner, with the object in 
view of purchasing the land later if con- 
ditions seem satisfactory to you and if 
you demonstrate your ability to run a 
ranch? 

28. Give some references with whom 
the commission may communicate with a 
view to obtaining information as to your 
ability to run a ranch. 

29. Give in detail the places of your 
residence and how long you have remained 
in each place during the last 25 years, 
and the reasons in each case for having 
moved. 

NOTE. Do not get ready to move to 
the colony. It is useless for you to go 
there, as the project is not finished and 
it is impossible to cultivate the lands at 
present. If you will fill out this question- 
naire and send it to the commission, you 
will hear from it in due time. 



International Water Commission, 

United States and Mexico 



THE State Department announces a 
joint meeting of the Mexican and 
American sections of the International 
Water Commission, United States and 
Mexico, to be held in Mexico City on 
August 20. Commissioner of Reclama- 
tion Dr. Elwood Mead, chairman of the 
commission, leaves Washington August 
15, accompanied by Miss M. A. Schnurr, 
assistant to the Commissioner of Recla- 
mation and secretary of the American 
section of the Water Commission, and 
Assistant Engineer Karl F. Keeler. They 
will be joined at Laredo, Tex., by Gen. 
Lansing H. Beach, U. S. A. (retired), 
Pasadena, Calif., and Mr. W. E. Ander- 
son, consulting engineer, of San Benito, 
Tex., the remaining members of the 
American section. 

This commission, set up by act of Con- 
gress dated May 13, 1924, was charged 
with a study regarding the equitable use 
of the waters of the Lower Rio Grande. 
At the request of Mexican authorities the 
study was extended to the Colorado and 



Tia Juana Rivers. This was accom- 
plished by joint resolution dated March 
3, 1927. Mexico was unwilling to con- 
sider the Rio Grande alone, and it was 
only after all three rivers were authorized 
in this study that a joint meeting of the 
American and Mexican sections was held. 
These meetings were held at points along 
the border in February and March, 1928, 
and the entire personnel of the commis- 
sion made an inspection trip of the lands 
involved. 

During these meetings it was agreed to 
collect certain stipulated data on both 
sides of the border, principally with respect 
to stream-flow records and present bene- 
ficial use. Both sections have diligently 
gone about the gathering of this informa- 
tion and are ready for consideration of the 
data collected. A conference has, there- 
fore, been called where all the material 
gathered on each side will be considered 
with a view to evolving some satisfactory 
working arrangements to be submitted to 
the two countries with a view to a treaty. 



144 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



September 1929 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



DR. ELWOOD MEAD, Commissioner 
of Reclamation, loft Washington, 
D. C., on August 9 for the Denver office, 
where lie conferred with the chief engineer 
and others interested in the power con- 
tracts at Boulder Dam. From Denver he 
left for Mexico City to attend a joint 
meeting of the Mexican and American 
sections of the International Water Com- 
mission, United States and Mexico. 
Doctor Mead is chairman of the American 
section. He is expected to return to the 
Washington office about September 15. 



P. W. Dent, assistant commissioner, is 
acting commissioner of the bureau during 
the absence of Doctor Mead. 



Miss Mae A. Schnurr, assistant to the 
commissioner, left Washington, D. C., on 
August 8 for Mexico City for the meeting 
of the International Water Commission. 
Miss Schnurr is secretary of the American 
section. 



L. M. Lawson. international boundary 
commissioner, will attend the sessions of 
the International Water Commission in 
Mexico City as a special advisor. Prof. 
Frank Adams, of the University of Cali- 
fornia, will attend as a consultant on 
Colorado River questions. Karl F. 
Keeler, assistant engineer of the American 
section, will also be present at the sessions 
of the commission. 



George C. Kreutzer, director of recla- 
mation economics, returned to the Wash- 
ington office on August 6, after an ex- 
tensive trip in the West in connection 
with the economic survey of reclamation 
of which he is in charge. 



Hugh A. Brown, assistant director of 
reclamation economics, served recently as 
one of the members of a committee desig- 
nated by the Director of the Census to 
draft the schedules of irrigation and drain- 
age to be used at the Census of 1930. 



Recent visitors at Stony Gorge Dam, 
Orland project, included G. F. Chapman, 
superintendent of construction, and J. H. 
Jerome, chief operator of the West Korte- 
nay Power & Light Co. (Ltd.), of Bir- 
mingham, British Columbia, and Taijiro 
Ikeda, chief engineer, reclamation affairs 
bureau, Government General of Chosen, 
Japan. 



The Owyhee project was visited recent- 
ly by Gov. I. L. Patterson, of Oregon, 
Senator Steiwer and Congressman Butler, 
of Oregon, and Senator Thomas and 
Congressman Smith, of Idaho. 



E. R. Kalmakaea, of the Department 
of Agriculture, spent several days on the 
Klamath project making a study of the 
duck disease which has prevailed in that 
country during the past few years. 



E. W. Lane, engineer, has been trans- 
ferred from the engineering department at 
large, War Department, to the designing 
section of the Denver office. 



R. J. Tipton, engineer, has been ap- 
pointed to the Denver office and assigned 
to the hydrographic section. 



During the month, R. F. Walter, chief 
engineer, visited Echo Dam, and the pro- 
posed Cache Valley development, Salt 
Lake Basin project; the Kittitas division 
of the Yakima project; the Owyhee 
project; the North Side gravity extension 
division of the Minidoka project; the 
Grand Valley and the Uncompahgre 
projects. 



Senor Luciano Jacques de Moraes, who 
has been sent to the United States by the 
''Service Geologico e Mineralogico," of 
the Brazilian Department of Agriculture, 
to study methods used by the Bureau of 
Reclamation, was a recent visitor at the 
Denver office. He planned also to visit 
the Grand Valley, Klamath, Yakima, Sho- 
shone, and Salt River projects. 



Lothrop Crosby, of Tacoma, formerly 
engineer for the Idaho Irrigation Co., was 
a recent visitor at the construction work 
in progress on the main canal of the 
gravity extension division of the Mini- 
doka project. 

John A. Whiting, State engineer of 
Wyoming, was a recent, visitor on the 
Riverton project. 



E. Carlton Jansen, hydroelectric en- 
gineer for the Public Service Co. of Colo- 
rado, visited the Grand Valley project 
recently to inspect the method employed 
at the diversion dam for the removal of 
silt. 

O 



Recent visitors on the Yakima project 
included Representatives Dickinson, of 
Iowa; Watson, of Pennsylvania; Sum- 
mers, of Washington; Sandlin, of Louisi- 
ana; and Buchanan, of Texas. J. C. 
McDonald, of Victoria, British Columbia, 
comptroller of water rights for the Gov- 
ernment of British Columbia, also spent 
a day on the project. 



The Yuma project was visited recently 
by Rev. C. W. Alheit and Rev. A. D. 
Luckhoff, of the Dutch Reformed Church, 
South Africa; Edmund P. Slitter, of 
Switzerland, who is investigating grape- 
fruit with a view to supplying the Switzer- 
land market with this fruit; and Senor 
Luciano Jacques de Moraes, of the De- 
partment of Agriculture, Bra/.il. 



B. W. Steele, engineer from the Denver 
office, spent two weeks on the Boise project 
testing concrete aggregates for the Dead- 
wood Dam. 



Barry Dibble, former project manager, 
Minidoka project, was a recent visitor at 
Burley and Rupert in connection with an 
investigation of power. 



A large number of physicians, en route 
to Portland, Oreg., to attend the conven- 
tion of the American Medical Association, 
stopped recently at American Falls, Mini- 
doka project, and visited the dam. 



The Montana State Extension Service 
of the Agricultural College has assigned 
Dan P. Thurber as associate county agent 
to work with the farmers in the develop- 
ment of the Sun River project. 



The following employees have been 
transferred from Gibson Dam, Sun River 
project: O. C. Smith, associate engineer, 
to the Boise project; L. R. Dunkley, as- 
sistant engineer, to the Salt Lake Basin 
project; Claude H. Jackson, inspector, to 
the gravity extension division, Minidoka 
pioject; Walter Boettcher, junior en- 
gineer, to the Riverton project; and 
Ernest Fraser, inspector, to the Lower 
Yellowstone project. 



O. W. Monson, of the Montana State 
College, spent several days on the Lower 
Yellowstone project making a study of the 
cost of preparing land, constructing 
ditches, and applying water. 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 



HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

los. M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 

Northcutt Ely and Ernest W. Sawyer, Executive Assistants 

Washington. D. C. 

El wood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 
Denser, Colorado. WilJa Building 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand OrTutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; C. A. 
Lyman, Field Representative. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 


Belle Fourche 


Newell, S. Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt .. 


J. P. Siebeneicher 
W. L. Vernon 
W. C. Berger 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


Wm. J. Burke 


Mitchell. Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise' 


Boise, Idaho .. _ _ 


R. J. Newell 




B. E. Stoutemyer-.. 
H. J S. Devries 


Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N. Mex 


L. E. Foster 


W. C Berger 


Grand Valley 


Grand Junction, Colo. 
Ballantine, Mont 


J. C. Page 


W. J. Chiesman 


W. J. Chiesman 












King Hill 3 


King Hill, Idaho 










Klamath Falls, Oreg 


H. D. Newell 


N O. Wheeler 




R J Coffey 


Lower Yellowstone 




H. A. Parker < F.. R. Snhennelmann 


E. R. Scheppelmann. 
E E Chabot 


E E Roddis 






E. E. Chabot- . 
G. C. Patterson. 


do 


Minidoka 1 .-- 


Burley, Idaho 


E. B Darlington 


Miss A. J. Larson 


B. E. Stoutemyer 


Newlands 6 . - . - 


Fallen, Nev 




R. J. Coffey 


North Platte 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H. C. Stetson 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Wm. J. Burke 


Okanogan 7 


Okanogan, Wash 








Orland 


Orland, Calif . 


R. C. E. Weber ... 
F. A. Banks 


C. II. Lillingston 


C. H. Li 11 illusion 


R. J. Coffey 




Owyhee, Oreg 


H. N. Bickel 


Frank P. Greene 


B. E. Stoutemyer 
H J S Devries 




El Paso, Tex 


L. R. Fiock 


Henry H. Berrvhill 


L. S. Kennicott 
R. B. Smith 




Riverton, Wyo 


H. D. Comstock 


R. B. Smith 


Wm. J. Burke 




Salt Lake City, Utah 




Salt River 8 














Powell, Wyo 


L H Mitchell 


W. F. Sha 





E E Roddis 


Strawberry Valley ">-.. 
Sun River 








Fairfield, Mont 


G. O. Sanford 


H. W. Johnson . . . 


H. W. Johnson 


E. E. Roddis 




flrrigon, Oreg----- 










Uncompahgre 


\Hermiston, Oreg 










Montrose, Colo 


L. J. Foster 


G. H. Bolt 


F. D. Helm 




Vale 


Vale, Oreg 


H. W. Bashore 
P. J. Preston 


C. M. Voyen 


C. M. Voyen 






Yakima, Wash 


R. K. Cunningham 


J. C Gawler 


do 




Yuma, Ariz 


R. M. Priest 


H. R. Pasewalk 


E. M. Philebaum_.... 


K. i. CorTey 









Large Construction Work 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo 
Dam. 
Kittitas 


Coalville, Utah .. . 


F. F. Smith ". 


C. F. Williams 


i J. R. Alexander 


Montrose, Colo. 

Portland, Oreg. 
Billings, Mont. 

Portland, Oreg. 


Ellensburg, Wash 
Fairfleld, Mont 


Walker R. Young . 


E. R. Mills. 




B. E. Stoutemyer 
E. E. Roddis 


Sun River, main canal 
Construction. 
Boise project, Dead- 
wood Dam. 


A. W. Walker 






Cascade, Idaho 




C. B. Funk 




B. E. Stoutemyer 




... 







1 Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1, 1926. 

! Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1927. E. E. Lewis, manager. 

3 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District Mar. 1, 1926. 
F. L. Kinkade, manager. 

* Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation Dis- 
trict on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District on 
Dec. 2, 1916. 

' Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1926. D. S. Stuver, manager. 

6 Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by North- 
port Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



; Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 
Joe C. Iddings, manager. 

8 Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. C. C. Cragin. general superintendent and chief engineer. 

' Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

10 Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. Lee R. Taylor, manager. 

11 Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

12 Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926. A. C. Houghton, manager; and East Division by Hermiston Irriga- 
tion District informally on July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926. 
Enos D. Martin, manager. 

11 Construction engineer. 



Important Investigations in Progress 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 




Yuma, Ariz 


H. J. Qault _ 




Oils River cooperative investigations 






Arizona and New Mexico. 




Salt Lake City, Utah 


E. O. Larson.. 


State of Utah. 




Yakima, Wash 


P. J. Preston . 




Alcova-Casper and Saratoga projects 


Casper, Wyo 


J. R. lakisch 













NEW 

RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



OCTOBER, 1929 



NO. 10 



I 




THOMPSON SEEDLESS GRAPES, YUMA FEDERAL IRRIGATION PROJECT, ARIZONA-CALIFORNIA 



Construction and Economic Results 

Bureau of Reclamation 

To June 30, 1929 

Reservoir capacity (acre-feet) 12,881,963 

Canals, ditches, and drains (miles) . . . . . 16,557 

Tunnels 722 

Length (feet) 775,536 

Canal structures 148,462 

Bridges 77,637 

Length (feet) 277,449 

Culverts 74,043 

Length (feet) 535,396 

Pipe (linear feet) 4,091,096 

Flumes 4,811 

Length (feet) 853,022 

Power plants 35 

Power developed (horsepower) J 66, 1 28 

Telephone lines (miles) 3,350 

Transmission lines (miles) 2,056 

Excavation (cubic yards) 276,822,500 

Irrigated farms 40,788 

Population 753,663 

Towns 2/2 

Population 457,8/7 

Schools 687 

Churches 689 

Banks /36 

Deposits $147,732,900 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price 75 cents. a year 



RAY LYMAN WILBUR 
Secretory of the Interior 



ELWOOD MEAD 
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



October, 1929 



No. 10 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



THE Orland project fig growers have 
contracted this season's crop, esti- 
mated at 100,000 tons, at $95 per ton 
f. o. b. Sacramento. This price will net 
the growers better than $85 per ton at 
Orland and is a remunerative price for 
the product. 

THE five factories of the Western 
Slope Cheese Co., three of which are 
on the Uncompahgre project, have shipped 
700,000 pounds of cheese since January 1, 
and an additional 175,000 pounds have 
been used for local consumption. 



A TOUR of the Milk River Valley 
was conducted recently, in order 
that all farmers might become familiar 
with conditions generally over the project. 
The tour, which was under the direction 
of Associate County Agent Bingham, 
started at Glasgow where the least develop- 
ment has taken place, and progressed up 
the valley to Chinook, where many of the 
farms are in a comparatively high state 
of improvement. It is believed that the 
tour will have a decided influence in the 
general improvement of agricultural meth- 
ods, especially in the use of irrigation 
water. 



THE colonization agent employed by 
the Northern Pacific and Great 
Northern Railways has brought several 
more prospective settlers from Colorado 
to the Lower Yellowstone project and at 
least two farms have been sold. A party 
of prospective settlers was also brought in 
from Wyoming by the Holly Sugar Corpo- 
ration and several farms were sold. 



SEVERAL sales of land were reported 
from the Vale project and a great 
many inquiries are being received by the 
Vale-Owyhee Government Projects Land 
Settlement Association. Fourteen public 
land farm units were opened to entry on 
September 3, and announcement was also 
made of the availability of water next 
spring for 4,012 acres of land in the 
project. 

7102ft 29 



ONE new renter took up a farm on the 
Belle Fourche project during the 
month and a number of prospective settlers 
have visited the project. These are men 
from the dry-farming areas where drought 
has stimulated inquiries for irrigated land. 
The North Western Railway Co. is plan- 
ning an active settlement campaign be- 
ginning October 1 to bring in high-class 
farmers. 



A? Echo Dam, Salt Lake Basin proj- 
ect, good progress was made on the 
dam fill section, and at the end of the month 
the dam was 50.8 per cent completed. 



THE two canneries in Yakima, on the 
Yakima project, have been working 
to capacity on pears, employing approxi- 
mately 2,000 persons. This will continue 
for several weeks, thousands of cans being 
processed daily. The pears from the 
upper valley are reported of excellent 
quality. 



THE Worden Creamery and the Bal- 
lantine Cheese Factory, Huntley 
project, which have been closed for some 
time, have been opened under new man- 
agement. 



A? the instigation of the Grand Valley 
Water Users' Association, a move- 
ment has been started on the Grand 
Valley project to encourage the construc- 
tion of cisterns and other means of water 
storage to encourage the handling of more 
livestock on project farms, the association 
to furnish forms and a concrete mixer for a 
nominal charge and assist in the construc- 
tion of these facilities. As a result, about 
a dozen large stock cisterns will be built 
before the end of the irrigation season. 



'"TpHERE is good prospect of a high 
j|_ price for alfalfa on the Sun River 
project. Reports have been received of 
offers running up to $15 a ton in the stack, 
and farmers are holding out for $17. 



CONSIDERABLE agitation was 
caused recently on the North Platte 
project by the application of the railroad 
companies for an increase in the freight 
rate for carload shipments of cheese from 
the valley to Omaha. The final result of 
the agitation was a reduction in the freight 
rate to 60 cents on carload shipments, 
which is the same rate as was granted 
recently to Wisconsin shippers. 



FLY aviation field, which is located on 
the Yuma Mesa, was used as an official 
fueling stop for the national women's air 
derby in August. With the successful sale 
of county bonds voted recently, $25,000 
is available for improving the field. 



ANEW dehydrating plant for drying 
fruit and vegetables is being con- 
structed at Nampa, Boise project, and 
will be ready for this season's crops. 



THE Rio Grande project pear crop 
exceeded predictions with a total 
shipment of 225 cars averaging about 
$1,000 per car. 

THE branch line of the Southern 
Pacific from Klamath Falls, Oreg., 
on the Klamath project, to Alturas, Calif., 
was opened for traffic on September 15. 



A 7 Owyhee Dam the Owyhee River 
was diverted through the completed 
diversion and spillway tunnel on August 7. 
At the end of the month the dam was 18 
per cent completed. 



THE Associated Seed Co. (Inc.), on 
the Shoshone project, has completed 
the addition to its seed house, and now has 
a building 30 by 150 feet in size, with an 
elevator and two cleaning mills for either 
peas or beans. The new building has a 
storage capacity of 50 carloads of seed. 
It also has a room where 20 pickers will 
be employed in cleaning seed for ship- 
ment. 

145 



146 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



October, 1929 



President Hoover's Proposed Public Land and Reclamation Policy 

An address before the Conference of Governors of the Public-Land States, Salt Lake City, Utah, Augast 26-27, 1929 

By Hon. Joseph M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary of the Interior 



BASED upon the knowledge gained 
from nearly 40 years' residence in 
the West, and upon many years of service 
in both legislative and administrative 
duties in Montana and Washington, I 
have faith to believe that out of this con- 
ference will come much of good to the 
people of the public-land States and to 
the Nation as a whole. 

We meet not as partisans but as citizen 8 
of a common country imbued with the 
sole idea of setting in motion a movement 
that will solve the perplexing problems 
now involved in the joint administration 
of State and Federal Government in the 
public-land States of the West. 

For the success of the plan, it argues 
well that the present Chief Executive of 
the Federal Government was born and 
reared in the West and has a sympathetic 
interest in its people and its local prob- 
lems. 

It is also not without interest to know 
that all of the chief administrative officials 
of the Department of the Interior, which 
deals almost exclusively with the problems 
of the West, are men of the West, who 
have lived their lives among and with you. 

In order that you may have at first 
hand, and for your immediate considera- 
tion at this conference, the present conclu- 
sions and tentative plans of President 



Hoover in his desire to fully cooperate 
with you in this work, he has dictated the 
following letter to me for presentation to 
this conference of the western Governors 
and their delegated representatives: 

PRESIDENT HOOVER'S LETTER 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 
Washington, August %1, 1929. 
Hon. JOSEPH M. DIXON, 

Assistant Secretary of the Interior, 
Washington, D. C. 

MY DEAK SECRETARY DIXON: I have 
for some years given thought to the 
necessity and desirability for a further 
step in development of the relations 
between the Federal and State Govern- 
ments in respect to the public lands and 
the Reclamation Service. The meeting 
of the governors of the public-land 
States at Salt Lake City which you are 
attending offers an opportunity for con- 
sideration of some phases of these ques- 
tions, and I should appreciate it if you 
would present them to the governors. 

It may be stated at once that our 
Western States have long since passed 
from their swaddling clothes and are to- 
day more competent to manage much of 
these affairs than is the Federal Govern- 
ment. Moreover, we must seek every 
opportunity to retard the expansion of 
Federal bureaucracy and to place our 
communities in control of their own 
destinies. The problems are in large 
degree administrative in character, both 
as they affect the Federal Government 
and the government of the States. 




' 






^ : *&* J^-**^' . . 

%*^ *& f * s 
'T^T^---:*. -.- " 



Dragline handling 54-inch lock-joint pipe, South Branch Canal, Kittitas division, Yakima project, 

Washington 



It seems to me that the time has come 
when we should determine the facts in 
the present situation, should consider the 
policies now being pursued and the 
changes which I might recommend to 
Congress. 

That these matters may be gone into 
exhaustively and that I may be advised 
intelligently, I propose to appoint a com- 
mission of 9 or 10 members, at least 5 
of whom should be chosen from leading 
citizens of the public-land States, and I 
should like to secure the cooperation of 
the governors by submission from them 
of names for such a commission. This 
commission would naturally cooperate 
with the Department of the Interior. 

As an indication of the far-reaching 
character of the subjects which could 
come before such a commission, I may 
recount certain tentative suggestions for 
its consideration. No doubt other sub- 
jects and other proposals would arise. 

PUBLIC LANDS 

The most vital question in respect to 
the remaining free public lands for both 
the individual States and the Nation is the 
preservation of their most important 
value that is, grazing. The remaining 
free lands of the public domain (that is, 
not including lands reserved for parks, 
forests, Indians, minerals, power sites, and 
other minor reserves) are valuable in the 
main only for that purpose. 

The first of the tentative suggestions, 
therefore, is that the surface rights of the 
remaining unappropriated, unreserved 
public lands should, subject to certain 
details for protection of homesteaders and 
the smaller stockmen, be transferred to 
the State governments for public-school 
purposes and thus be placed under State 
administration. 

At the present time these unappropri- 
ated lands aggregate in the neighborhood 
of 190,000,000 acres, and in addition some 
10,000,000 acres have been withdrawn for 
purposes of stock-watering places and 
stock drives which might be transferred 
as a part of a program of range preserva- 
tion. In addition, some 35,000,000 acres 
have been withdrawn for coal and shale 
reserves, the surface rights of which with 
proper reservations might be added to 
this program of range development in the 
hands of the States. 

Reports which I have received indicate 
that, due to lack of constructive regula- 
tion, the grazing value of these lands is 
steadily decreasing due to overgrazing, 
and their deterioration, aside from their 
decreased value in the production of 
herds, is likely to have a marked effect 
upon the destruction of the soil and ulti- 
mately upon the water supply. They 
bring no revenue to the Federal Govern- 
ment. The Federal Government is incap- 
able of the adequate administration of 
matters which require so large a matter of 
local understanding. Practically none of 
these lands can be commercially afforested, 
but in any event the forest reserves could 
be rounded out from them where this is 



October, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



147 



desirable. Therefore, for the best interest 
of the people as a whole, and people of the 
Western States and the small farmers and 
stockmen by whom they are primarily 
used, they should be managed and the 
policies for their use determined by the 
State governments. 

The capacity which the individual 
States have shown in handling school 
lands already ceded out of every township 
which are of the same character is in itself 
proof of this and most of the individual 
States already maintain administrative 
organizations for this purpose, so that but 
little added burden would thus be 
imposed. They could, to the advantage 
of the animal industry, be made to ulti- 
mately yield some proper return to the 
States for school purposes, and the funda- 
mental values could be safeguarded in a 
fashion not possible by the Federal Gov- 
ernment. They would also increase the 
tax base of the State governments. 

A question might arise upon the allot- 
ment of the Federal road fund as a result 
of a shift of the public land ownership. It 
would only be just if this allotment could 
be undisturbed for at least 10 years while 
the States were organizing their range 
conservation measures. 

It is not proposed to transfer forest, 
park, Indian, and other existing reserva- 
tions which have a distinctly national as 
well as local importance. Inasmuch as 
the royalties from mineral rights revert 
to the Western States either direct or 
through the reclamation fund, their reser- 
vation to the Federal control is not of the 
nature of a deprival. 

RECLAMATION SERVICE 

It seems to me that the vital questions 
here are to reorient the direction of the ' 
Reclamation Service primarily to the 
storage of water and to simplify its 
administration . 

The reclamation fund and the Recla- 
mation Service were created in 1902, and 
the situation has since changed materially. I 
The present plan, as you are aware, is that 
leceipts from sale of public lands, mineral 
royalties, and repayments by the benefi- 
ciaries for expenditure upon projects all 
accrue to this fund. The Reclamation 
Service undertakes special projects upon 
the authorization of Congress, which are 
firianced from the fund on the basis of 
return by the land owners or purchasers 
of the cost of the project but without 
interest for a term of years. A total of 
approximately $182,000,000 has been 
expended from the fund. 

The present reclamation act is based 
fundamentally on the reclamation of 
Government-owned lands. Possible areas 
available for reclamation have now passed 
almost wholly into private ownership and 
the use of the reclamation fund for further 
projects may be legally criticized owing 
to the fact that the land is no longer part 
of the public domain and circumlocution 
by voluntary agreements may not always 
be possible. 

Moreover, the application of the fund 
under the present organization results in 
very large Federal administrative activi- 
ties within the States of a character which 
was never originally contemplated and 
which could be much better administered 
by the local State governments themselves. 
In many ways it duplicates the State 
water administrations. 



There are several tentative suggestions 
for more effectual handling of the fund. 
For instance, the Reclamation Service for 
all new projects might well be confined to 
the construction of permanent works that 
is, dams and such construction as results 
in water storage and at the completion of 
such construction the entire works be 
handed over to the States with no obliga- 
tion for repayment to the reclamation fund 
except such revenues as might arise from 
electrical power and possibly in some cases 
from the sale of water until the outlay has 
been repaid or in any event for not longer 
than, say, 50 years. 

Again, there are certain instances of in- 
sufficiently capitalized community owned 
irrigation projects which are at the point 
of failure, for which the reclamation fund 
might be made a proper vehicle to rescue 
homes that are now in jeopardy. 

A further activity which might be con- 
sidered for incorporation in the Reclama- 
tion Service would be the authorization to 
join with the States and local communi- 
ties or private individuals for the creation 
of water storage for irrigation purposes. 
The primary purpose of these suggestions 
is thus to devote the Federal Government 
activities to the creation of water storage 
and a reduction of other activities within 
the States. 

Under such arrangements the States 
would have the entire management of all 
new reclamation projects and would them- 
selves deal with the irrigation land ques- 
tions and land settlements. It is only 
through the powers of the States that 
reclamation districts can legally be organ- 
ized which would incorporate the liability 
of privately owned lands for irrigation 
expenditure and by such organization it 
ought to be possible to finance the sub- 
sidiary works. 

By direction of the Reclamation Service 
in some such manner the large provision 
of water storage would ultimately secure 
a very large increase in the irrigable area 



of the various States. It is evident to 
every engineer that water storage is not 
always directly connected with an irriga- 
tion project but vital to expansion of 
irrigation. This emphasis and this direc- 
tion of Federal activities to water storage 
rather than land development has also an 
incidental importance to flood control and 
navigation. 

It is not suggested that the States 
should take over the administration of the 
established projects but that the system 
should be set up for future undertakings. 
If it were instituted, it would, of course, 
be necessary to set up some safeguards to 
cover interstate projects. No doubt each 
new project as at present should be spe- 
cifically authorized by Congress. 

It must be understood that these sug- 
gestions are only tentative; that they have 
no application to dealing with power ques- 
tions except that which is incidental to 
storage of water for irrigation or its fur- 
ther incidental use in navigation and flood 
control. Moreover, the question of the 
advisability or inadvisability of opening 
new areas of land for cultivation in the 
face of present obvious surplus of farm 
products does not arise because the ac- 
tivities outlined herein will only affect 
farm production ten or twenty years 
hence, by which time we shall probably 
need more agricultural land. 

MINERAL RESOURCES 

The policies to be pursued in develop- 
ment and conservation of mineral re- 
sources of the public domain present many 
problems. They are problems of a na- 
tional as well as a local character. I know 
that the western as well as the eastern 
States agree that abuse of permits for 
mineral development or unnecessary pro- 
duction and waste in our national re- 
sources of minerals is a matter of deepest 
concern and must be vigorously prevented. 




Gibson dam, Sun River project, Montana 



148 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



October, 1929 



Because of such abuse and \v;istc I re- 
cently instituted measures to suspend 
further issue of oil prospect inn permits on 
public lands and to clean up the misuse 
of outstanding permits, and thereby to 
clear the way for constructive conserva- 
tion. It may interest the governors to 
know that when this decision was taken 
on the 12th of March there were pros- 
pecting permits in force covering over 
40,000,000 acres of the public domain. 
\\e have now determined that over 40 
per cent of these holders had not com- 
plied with the requirements of the law; 
that the larger portion of these licenses 
were being used for the purpose of pre- 
venting others from engaging in honest 
development and some even as a basis of 
"blue sky" promotions. After yielding 
to the claimants the widest latitude to 
show any genuine effort at development 
under the outstanding prospecting per- 
mits, the total will probably be reduced 
to about 10,000,000 acres, upon which 
genuine development is now in progress. 
The public domain is, therefore, being 
rapidly cleared of this abuse. The posi- 
tion is already restored to a point where 
measures can be discussed which will 
further effectually conserve the national 
resources and at the same time take 
account of any necessity for local supplies. 

GENERAL 

These suggestions are, of course, tenta- 
tive pending investigation of the full facts, 
but generally I may state that it is my 
desire to work out more constructive 
policies for conservation in our grazing 
lands, our water storage, and our mineral 
resources, at the same time check the 
growth of Federal bureaucracy, reduce 
Federal interference in affairs of essen- 
tially local interest, and thereby increase 
the opportunity of the States to govern 
themselves, and in all obtain better 
government. 

Yours faithfully, 

HERBERT HOOVER. 

DISPOSAL OF THE PUBLIC LANDS 

I am not so optimistic as to believe that 
out of this conference will come the final 
solution of all the problems of the West, 



but I do believe that you can here plant 
a real milestone in the history of its de- 
velopment. 

Let us analyze the proposals of the 
President and see what may evolve from 
their enactment into statutory law. 

First, his proposal as to the disposition 
of the surface title of the remaining public 
lands. 

On June 30, 1929, there remained of the 
public domain, in the 11 major public-land 
States, exclusive of a much smaller acreage 
in North and South Dakota, Alabama, 
Arkansas, and Minnesota, and exclusive 
of national forests, Indian reservations, 
national parks, stock driveways, water 
holes, etc., as follows: Arizona, 16,911,367 
acres; California, 20,209,421 acres; Colo- 
rado, 8,218,875 acres; Idaho, 10,734,420 
acres; Montana, 6,900,144 acres; Nevada, 
53,410,938 acres; New Mexico, 16,282,582 
acres; Oregon, 13,227,141 acres; Utah, 
25,147,867 acres; Washington, 951,903 
acres; Wyoming, 17,035,537 acres. 

These 11 States have heretofore (exclu- 
sive of their grants for their various edu- 
cational and other State institutions) been 
granted by the Federal Government for 
their public-land funds in some States 
two sections out of each township, and in 
Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona four sec- 
tions in each township the following 
total acreage of the public domain lying 

within their respective limits: 

Acres 

Arizona 8,093, 156 

California 5, 534, 293 

Colorado 3,685,618 

Idaho 2,963,698 

Montana 5, 198, 258 

Nevada 2, 061, 967 

New Mexico 4, 355, 662 

Oregon 3, 399, 360 

Utah 5,844, 196 

Washington... 2,376,391 

Wyoming - 3,470,009 




Dr. Alvin Johnson at the I.ingle power p'ant, >"orth Platte project, Nebraska- Wyoming 



From these Federal land grants alone 
the States of the West have built up their 
present public-school funds, which year 
by year are steadily growing in magni- 
tude and from which are annually distrib- 
uted millions of income to the school chil- 
dren of our respective States. 

Taking my own State as a yardstick, in 
order to visualize the actual result of the 
surrender value of the remaining public 
lands within her borders and we find the 
' total area of school sections granted under 
her enabling act to have been, in round 
numbers, 5,000,000 acres. The present 
proposal gives Montana, in round numbers, 
7,000,000 acres additional. 

Naturally, the remaining 7,000,000 acres 
are not the equivalent, acre for acre, of 
the school lands embraced within the 
original grant, and still my judgment is 
that the granting of the remaining 7,000,- 
000 acres will almost double the income 
of the permanent school fund of Montana, 
and to that extent lift the burden of local 
school taxation from the homes and farms 
and business interests of our State. 

Take Idaho. Under her original public- 
school land grant she received approxi- 
mately 3,000,000 acres; under the Presi- 
dent's proposal she will receive in excess 
of 10,000,000 acres additional, more than 
three times the original grant. 

Here again, you will find that acre for 
acre, it is not of the same intrinsic value. 
No doubt in Idaho the enterprising State 
land agents and early settlers and the 
large cattle and sheep outfits made their 
entries alongside the streams and water 
holes, so that in many places water for 
the remaining lands is now at a premium 
and not immediately available for the 
larger use of the millions of acres of graz- 
ing lands now held by the Federal Gov- 
ernment. 

But my judgment is that we have not 
as yet, half developed the future and po- 
tential water supply on these vast areas 
of grazing lands. 

The sinking of wells a few hundred feet, 
at almost any place in the two States just 
named, will develop abundant water for 
stock raising and domestic use, if the 
proper rewards were offered through hon- 
estly administered, long-term leases by 
the States. 

At the present time these millions of 
acres of the public domain bring to the 
Federal Government, from the surface 
rights, not one dollar of revenue. 

Since the enactment of the free home- 
stead law, in 1862, under the administra- 
tion of Lincoln, the Federal Government 
has never attempted to coin revenue from 
the disposal of the public lands, except 
from the royalties imposed upon oil and 
coal, which are immediately turned back 
into the reclamation fund for the develop- 
ment of the arid lands in the West. 



October, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



149 



From time to time there have been pro- 
posals for the leasing of the remaining 
grazing lands by the Federal Government, 
but I have never yet seen one that was not 
most cumbersome in its proposed opera- 
tion, and worst of all, inevitably lodges bu- 
reau control at Washington, in the admin- 
istration of the lands here in the West. 

That is what the President now pro- 
poses to abolish, by giving to the States 
themselves the ownership and right of 
control. The individual States have the 
machinery already set up for doing this 
very work, through their efficient State 
land boards already functioning in the 
administration of the present State- 
owned school lands. 

There is another and even bigger matter 
involx'ed in the President's proposal: Any 
man who is intimately acquainted with the 
present physical condition of our Federal- 
owned grazing lands well knows that they 
have been pastured down to the grass 
roots. We know that they are not now 
producing one-fifth of the natural forage 
that they would produce, if intelligent use 
were applied. 

The old days of the luxuriant bunch 
grass has disappeared under the present 
ruinous practice of indiscriminate graz- 
ing, without any restriction whatever. 

Intelligent use of our western grazing 
land would easily treble their carrying 
power in the matter of production of 
cattle, sheep, and wool. 

There is another matter involved, that 
to the far-seeing man may even assume 
bigger proportions than the immediate 
one of the increased carrying capacity of 
our ranges, and that is the very serious 
impairment of our watersheds from over- 
grazing, which has already resulted in a 
much lower carrying capacity for the an- 
nual snow and rainfall, with the resultant 
quick run-off in the spring and disastrous 
floods that inevitably follow. 

The people of the East can make no 
better future investment than that of 
granting to the people of the West the 
remaining public lands, if we can assure 
them, in turn, that our administration of 
the trust involved will result in better 
protection of the watersheds, through a 
better use and rehabilitation of the 
natural soil covering and through a con- 
tinually expanding program of impound- 
ing at the head of our rivers, by dams and 
reservoirs, constructed primarily for ir- 
rigation, the flood waters that now pour 
down each spring in disastrous floods to 
the lower reaches of our great rivers. 

THE RECLAMATION PROGRAM 

In his letter the President calls to your 
attention his proposal to make the present 
reclamation act more flexible and of far 
greater consequential value to the West. 
H We of the West counted its enactment 
as another milestone in the development 



of the national heritage. To the man of 
limited vision it might seem to have been 
wrought out for the benefit of the semi- 
arid States alone. 

That was the narrower viewpoint that 
had to be combated at Washington, when 
President Roosevelt led the fight for its 
enactment in 1902. The actual experi- 
ence of 27 years has abundantly justified 
the wisdom of the plan, not only for 
western development but also the accruing 
economic benefits that have been wide- 
spread throughout the Nation, in the 
greater demand for eastern-made goods 
from every reclaimed farm in the West. 

About $182,000,000 has now been ex- 
pended in the construction of Federal 
reclamation projects, of which amount 
approximately $15,000,000 has been 
charged off, owing to unforeseen physical 
conditions, and approximately $13,000,000 
has also been placed in "suspense." 

Repayments by settlers on the various 
projects now amount to approximately 
$36,000,000. The commitments for proj- 
ects now under construction or authorized 
will approximate about $32,000,000. 

Under the reclamation act all moneys 
arising from the public lands go into the 
reclamation fund. Congress has made 
no direct appropriation for the construc- 
tion of these vast works. 

Last year approximately $7,000,000 
came into the reclamation fund, nearly 
all of it from oil and coal royalties and 
repayments from projects now completed. 

We of the West know that the major 
problems affecting new irrigation projects 
arise from the difficulties involved in the 
settlement of the raw lands. 

It has not been an easy matter for the 
settler on irrigated lands, whether Fed- 
eral or privately developed, to forge his 
way to a fairly prosperous condition, 
involving, as it must do, a heavy invest- 
ment in land levelling, construction of 
buildings, and in machinery and livestock. 



As a whole, the Federal reclamation 
projects, providing for long-term repay- 
ments without interest, have been far 
more successful than those constructed 
with private capital, involving the heavy 
interest charges on the bonds. 

It is common knowledge to us from the 
irrigation States that many of these 
privately constructed projects are now in 
a bad way and that many meritorious 
projects of this type are threatened with 
disaster because of their inability to 
refinance themselves. 

In the President's proposal he points 
out that in these meritorious cases the 
reclamation act might well be given more 
flexibility, so as to take care of this type 
of privately constructed project, where 
the settler is already upon the land, by 
long-time loans advanced from the re- 
clamation fund, with a low interest rate. 
To me there is no more practical way of 
extending intelligent help to agriculture 
at this time. 

He also proposes, if the individual 
States will take over the job of adminis- 
tering the work of reclamation, that the 
Federal Government, in its future com- 
mitments from the reclamation fund, 
advance the money necessary for the con- 
struction of the dams and reservoirs, 
without repayment from the States, the 
individual States in turn to have supervi- 
sory control of the digging of the main 
canals and laterals. 

This plan would very materially reduce 
the acre cost of future reclamation to the 
point where successful land settlement 
would be assured. 

I judge that the President, in recom- 
mending this joint plan, believes that the 
Nation itself is fully justified in making 
this contribution of the dams and reser- 
voirs, both for irrigation and an offset 
against the lessened danger from floods 
and as a more comprehensive plan of 
national flood control. 




', 




Whalen diversion dam, North Platte project, Nebraska- Wyoming 



150 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



October, 1929 



MINERAL SUBSURFACE RIGHTS 

As to the general plans above out lined 
my guess would be that most of you ar 
in agreement up to this point, but tha 
in some of your minds the question ha 
arisen, what about the mineral subsur 
face rights? Why should they not als 
be turned over, as a gift to the public 
land States'.' 

As a man of the West, whose past lif< 
has been lived in and whose persona 
interests and future hopes are whollj 
wrapped up in its development, I wil 
give you the reason why that .very thing 
is neither desirable nor to be hoped for a 
this time. 

In the first place, there is no public- 
land State that has the equipment abso- 
lutely necessary for scientifically handling 
the vast mineral resources underlying the 
public lands. The Federal Government 
is spending, and for years has been 
spending, more than a million dollars per 
year in the maintenance of its Geological 
Survey. Here we have a force of about 
500 highly trained men at work, in making 
most comprehensive surveys and studies 
of our coal, oil, phosphates, potash, 
metalliferous ores, topographical surveys, 
stream gaging, underground water supply, 
and their related subjects. 

This work is particularly a National 
and not a State affair. The individual 
States at this time are not financially 
able, nor are they equipped in even the 
most meager way, to undertake or carry 
on this work. 

From both the National and the State 
viewpoint it would be a disaster to attempt 
to reverse this procedure. 

In the second place, the individual 
States would reap no actual benefit by a 
surrender of this Federal right to the 
States, as the individual public lands 
States are now receiving, through the 
reclamation act, every dollar of revenue 
that comes from mineral royalties, ex- 
cept a meager 10 per cent of the receipts 
which the Federal Government retains 
for its supervisory control and adminis- 
tration of the underground mineral 
wealth. 

Surely the States could not hope to 
carry on this work of exploration and 
administration so cheaply or with such 
efficiency. 

Only recently I heard the comment that 
turning over the surface title to the public 
lands, without the accompanying mineral 
title, was like presenting the egg shell 
without the meat. 

Certainly no man from the West, who 
has a comprehensive knowledge of the 
facts involved, will give patient ear to 
such loose and foolish conversation. 

There is also another side to that ques- 
*ion that we might as well 'face first as 



last. All this proposed plan for turning 
over the public lands and making more 
flexible the present reclamation act in 
volves favorable congressional action. 

I believe that under the kindly and in 
telligent leadership of the President these 
two things are possible, and that the 
Congress will follow his leadership in 
bringing it to a successful conclusion. 

But a proposal to Congress to turn over 
the coal, oil, potash, phosphates, anc 
metalliferous ores to the several States 
with our minimum of representation ir 
the House and Senate, would be hopelessly 
impossible from its inception. 

THE NATIONAL FORESTS 

The same is true of the national forests. 
In the administration of the national for- 
ests the Federal Government is spending 
each year far more than it receives from 
the sale of timber and the grazing receipts. 

To begin with, 25 per cent of all forest 
receipts are immediately returned to the 
States in which the forests lie. 

The next time any man proposes that 
the individual States take over the na- 
tional forests, I wish you would keep in 
mind the following facts and figures: 

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1925, 
the Federal Government expended for the 
administration of the national forests, for 
the purchase of additional lands, and for 
the building of permanent roads and trails 
therein, the sum of $23,759,375, of which 
total $10,477,564 was expended for road 
construction work alone. The receipts 
from the national forests that year from 
timber sales and grazing fees totaled 
$5,000,137. 

For 1926 the Government expended on 
its national forests $22,729,343, of which 
$12,989,605 was expended for roads and 
trails and $1,146,487 for additions to the 
forests. During the year 1926 the total 
receipts from the national forests was 
$5,155,661. 

For the year 1927 the total expenditure 
by the Federal Government for the na- 
tional forests was $23,512,220, of which 
$10,532,407 was for the construction of 
permanent roads and trails and $1,063,930 
ibr the acquisition of additional forest 
lands. For the year 1927 the Federal 
overnment's total receipts from grazing 
fees and timber sales was $3,166,605. 

For the year 1928 the total expenditure 
by the Federal Government for the 
national forests was $22,657,454, of which 
59,626,805 was for the construction of 
permanent roads and trails and $2,069,122 
or the purchase of additional lands. The 
otal receipts for the year 1928 were 
$5,441,434. 

For the 4-year period from 1925 to 1928 
he Federal Government expended on its 
lational forests a sum total of $92,658,392, 
ind for the same period received in return 



$20,763,837, 25 per cent of which, $5,190,- 
960, was returned to the States. 

A study of the receipts and expenditures 
by the Federal Government in the con- 
servation of the national forests surely 
will not leave any enthusiasm in the 
minds of those who have been clamoring 
for the Federal Government to surrender 
the national forests to the individual 
States. 

I have a very distinct recollection of the 
agitation that spread through the West 
25 years ago, when President Roosevelt 
led the crusade for the preservation of the 
remaining national forests of the West. 
I recall how bitterly he was assailed at the 
time by the cry of those who said that he 
was "robbing the West of its heritage." 
The experience of the past quarter of a 
century now shows that, as a matter of 
fact, he was literally saving us from our- 
selves, by putting a check on the indis- 
criminate, immediate destruction of the 
forest lands of the Mountain States. 

Only a few weeks ago I saw the same 
clamor arise in some portions of the West 
when President Hoover declared his pres- 
ent policy of conserving in an orderly 
manner the oil reserves of the West that 
happen to lie within Government-owned 
lands. 

All of us present here to-day will, in the 
coming years, pay grateful recognition to 
the act of President Hoover in trying to 
lessen the present wastefulness in the over- 
production of our great natural resource of 
oil, so that it may be developed in an 
orderly, economical way. 

From all the royalties paid the Federal 
Government on oil, coal, and timber sales 
from public lands, outside the national for- 
ests, there is immediately returned to the 
individual States 37J per cent for our 
roads and schools, 10 per cent for adminis- 
tration, the remaining 52^ per cent being 
paid into the reclamation fund. 

When we talk about taking over the 
mineral wealth for the public-land States 
we automatically close down all further 
aid for reclamation. 

We can not eat our pie and keep it too. 
In our enthusiastic support of a pro- 
gram that we ourselves favor, we are some- 
imes prone to overlook an inventory of 
;he cold facts. 

The public domain was acquired by gifts 
'rom some of the older States, by purchase 
'rom foreign governments, and as indem- 
nity from Mexico, as a result of the war of 
1845-1847. No public-land State has 
jver added one single acre to our flag. 

The mineral wealth underlying our pub- 
ic lands does not belong to the public- 
and States and never did. 

Neither should we forget that the Con- 
titution reposes in the Congress the ex- 
lusive authority to dispose of the public 



October, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



151 



lands and to adopt the rules and regula- 
tions regarding their disposal. 

The President can only recommend to 
Congress such action as he deems wise and 
beneficial to the Nation as a whole, of 
which we of the West are an integral part. 

Our only hope for bringing about the 
desired change in present conditions, that 
we believe is fraught with such big possi- 
bilities for the development of the West, 
is through orderly procedure and the pre- 
sentation of our case in a way that will 
appeal to the far-seeing Congressmen and 
Senators from the Eastern States. 

A FACT-FINDING COMMISSION 

In order to bring this about the Presi- 
dent now proposes to name a commission 
of 9 or 10 men, 5 of whom shall be from 
the public-land States of the West, to 
study this matter and then to make report 
to him of the result of their findings. 
Backed up by a favorable recommenda- 
tion of this kind, he is of the opinion that 
the Congress will favorably respond by 
the enactment of legislation that will 
bring to early fruition the program out- 
lined in his letter to you. 

As members of this commission, he 
earnestly desires that the five western 
members shall include some of our biggest 
and best men, who are thoroughly con- 
versant with the problem involved. 

In his letter he asks that each governor 
submit to him two or three names from 
his State to help guide him in making up 
the list from the West. 

We can accomplish nothing without 
mutual cooperation and leadership. I 
have faith to believe that out of this con- 
ference will come great good and bigger 
things for the future development of the 
great Republic to which we all hold al- 
legiance and especially to that portion 
which we affectionately call "the West," 
with its great mountain ranges, valleys 
and plains, irrigated lands, undeveloped 
water powers, and mineral wealth. 

In his letter to you the President has 
outlined his plan for turning over to you a 
great heritage. He has also pointed the 
way whereby the irrigation States of the 
West can develop their now arid lands, 
under their own control, to full fruition. 

He has proposed a method of now cut- 
ting the Gordian knot that will free you 
from bureaucratic control at Washington, 
of which we have complained in the past. 

May not we of the West, under the 
leadership here assembled, now confront 
an opportunity that if taken at its flood 
tide will surely lead on to bigger and 
better things in the years just ahead of us? 

May not the President's proposals, if 
now met in a reciprocal spirit, easily 
assume the magnitude of a Magna Charta 
in the future development of the West? 



Rural Electrification Progress on the 

Salt River Project, Arizona 



THE rural electrification program of 
the Salt River project, Arizona, is 
now nearing completion, only the odds 
and ends of completing the job remaining. 
The work was financed by a bond issue of 
$1,200,000, voted by the shareholders of 
the Salt River Valley Water Users' Asso- 
ciation, and consists of nine substations 
located throughout the valley where the 
power is taken from transmission lines and 
transformed to 4-kilovolt, 3-phase, 4-wire 
current for distribution over approxi- 
mately 750 miles of distribution lines. 
About 2,000,000 pounds of copper wire 
were used in the construction of the lines. 

Electricity is now available at every one 
of the 7,000 farms on the project and 
service is installed upon payment of $25 
for connection charge. To date 1,950 
farms have been served, with 250 more 
applications for power service. Farms 
are being connected at the rate of about 50 
per week, and it is expected that before 
the end of the year there will be 3,000 
services installed. 

The use of electricity on the farms is 
growing in amount rapidly. The rate for 
combined cooking, lighting, water heat- 
ing, and refrigeration is $4 per month 
minimum, for which the consumer re- 



ceives 55 kilowatt-hours, the next kilo- 
watt-hour at 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, 
and the balance at 2% cents per kilowatt- 
hour. Several hundred ranges are in use, 
and the number installed is growing 
rapidly. Electric power is used for many 
other purposes, including water heating, 
ensilage cutting, milking machines, cream 
separators, refrigeration, feed grinding, in- 
cubators, brooders, etc. Heating of houses 
is done to some extent by electricity, but 
only in special cases where the cost is not 
a prime consideration. 

The average use per rural customer last 
year was 135 kilowatt-hours per month, 
with only about 900 services. It is ex- 
pected that this average will be higher 
under the enlarged program. The asso- 
ciation has established a merchandising 
department to supply electrical appli- 
ances to the shareholders and to assist 
them in making full use of the possibilities 
of electricity on the farm. 

There are approximately 7,000 farms in 
the project, although the separate water 
accounts amount to over 9,000. This i8 
accounted for by the extensive subdivision 
of lands into small holdings of 1 acre and 
less which are utilized for country homes 
rather than for forming purposes. 



Dressing Turkeys Pays Well 

in North Platte District 



INCREASED profits from turkey grow- 
ing as the result of cooperative mar- 
keting of the dressed fowls has proved an 
incentive to farmers in the North Platte 
irrigation district in western Nebraska. 
Marketing dressed turkeys in car lots is 
one of the most practical of cooperative 
marketing projects. 

The growers in a county or district 
determine approximately the number of 
turkeys available for sale. Representa- 
tives of the growers get in touch with 
prospective buyers and receive from them 
sealed bids which are opened at a stated 
time. The entire number is then sold 
to the highest bidder, who then fixes the 
dates on which he wishes the dressed birds 
to be delivered. The farmers dress the 
turkeys the day before delivery and cool 
them overnight on the farms. The birds 
are weighed, graded, and paid for as they 
are delivered. The purchaser bears all 



expenses and assumes all responsibility 
after the birds are received. 

Turkey growers realize from 50 cents to 
SI for the labor of dressing. This repre- 
sents from 15 to 20 per cent of the value of 
the turkey, and is fully three-fifths as 
much as the entire feed cost of raising and 
fattening the birds in the North Platte 
district. In 1927 the growers sold nearly 
25,000 birds, and netted about $18,000 for 
the work of dressing. At turkey-dressing 
time neighbors often change work, and if 
one grower is inexperienced he can usually 
get a neighbor to show him the best 
method of dressing the birds. Farm 
dressing is usually better done than in 
commercial establishments and buyers 
consider this when bidding for the turkey 
crop. The fact that turkeys move to 
market so largely just in advance of 
Thanksgiving and Christmas is a point 
favoring the cooperating sellers. 



152 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



October, 1929 



The Settlement Problem of the Vale and Owyhee Projects 

An Address Before the Stale Reclamation Congress of Oregon, September 17, 1929 



THE construction of contemplated 
irrigation works will make possible 
the delivery of water to areas of new land 
on the Vale project, Oregon, varying from 
21,000 to 30,000 acres and to approxi- 
mately 70,000 acres of new land on the 
Owyhee project, Oregon-Idaho, or to a 
total of about 100,000 acres of new land 
on the two projects. Of the new land on 
the Vale project approximately 1,200 irri- 
gable acres are public land and the bal- 
ance private land. Of the 1,200 irrigable 
acres of public land, approximately two- 
thirds are now being opened to entry. 
The private land was acquired by indi- 
viduals a number of years ago through 
the operations of the homestead and 
desert land laws and grants were also 
made by the Federal Government of large 
areas for constructing roads for military 
purposes. Only one or two settlers now 
reside on any of the private new land of 
the projects. The full development of the 
Vale project will require from 350 to 450 
settlers and the Owyhee project from 
1,200 to 1,500, or a total of from 1,550 to 
1,900 settlers on the new lands of the two 
projects. 

COST OF PROJECTS 

The Secretary of the Interior has en- 
tered into a contract with the Vale, Oreg., 
irrigation district in which the Govern- 
ment, in the discretion of the Secretary 
and contingent upon annual congressional 



By H. W. Bashore, Construction Engineer, Vale Project 

appropriations, agrees to expend not to 
exceed $4,500,000 in the construction of 
irrigation and drainage works for the Vale 
project. 

In similar contracts with the Owyhee 
irrigation district and Gem irrigation dis- 
trict and others, the Government agrees 
to expend not to exceed $18,000,000 in the 
construction of irrigation and drainage 
works for the Owyhee project. 

APPROPRIATIONS 

The total of the annual appropriations 
made by Congress to cover expenditure 
to be made to June 30, 1930, amounts to 
$2,796,000 for the Vale project and 
$6,315,000 for the Owyhee project, or a 
total of $9,111,000 for the two projects. 
The appropriation for the fiscal year 1930 
for the Vale project is $796,000 and for 
the Owyhee project, $2,000,000, or a total 
of $2,796,000 for the two projects; and 
this total is about 30 per cent of all money 
appropriated by Congress for Federal 
reclamation work for the fiscal year 1930, 
and about 36 per cent of all money appro- 
priated for construction work. These 
relatively large appropriations for Federal 
reclamation work in eastern Oregon might 
be considered as a measure of the confi- 
dence of the Bureau of Reclamation in the 
soundness of the two projects. 

REPAYMENT 

All sums expended by the United States 
in the construction of the two projects are 




Warmsprings dam and reservoir, Vale project, Oregon 



by the terms of the contracts with the 
irrigation districts to be repaid by the 
districts, without interest, within 40 years 
from the date that the Secretary an- 
nounces that water is available and the 
amount of construction charges per irri- 
gable acre on any division of the projects. 
The payment of construction charges 
implies settlers on the land, clearing, cul- 
tivation, and the use of irrigation water 
in the growing of crops; and this brings 
us to the consideration of the problem of 
settlement of the projects and the prob- 
able influence of the success of settling the 
first units of the Vale project on the con- 
struction program of the Vale project as 
a whole and upon the construction pro- 
gram of the Owyhee project, and even on 
the national policy of reclamation. 

CRITICISM OF FEDERAL RECLAMATION 

This problem is serious on account of 
the erroneous impression which prevails 
in some quarters at this time that in the 
building of irrigation projects we are pro- 
viding additional areas to produce crops 
which will come in competition with sur- 
plus crops already being produced with a 
tendency to further lower the price which 
the farmer receives on the world market. 
The claim is made by some that on ac- 
count of the trend in population the 
change in exports and surplus agricul- 
tural production and the small per cent 
of settlement on some irrigation projects 
already constructed, there is no justifica- 
tion for further construction at present. 

Statisticians have determined that the 
yearly number of births has decreased 
from 26 per 1,000 population in 1915 to 20 
per 1,000 population to-day, and that the 
death rate has declined from 14 per 1,000 
in 1915 to 11 per 1,000 to-day, or a natu- 
ral increase of 12 per 1,000 in 1915 and 9 
per 1,000 to-day. Economists point out 
that the death rate can not remain as low 
as 11 per 1,000, as this would give an 
average age of over 90 years, and they 
attribute the present low death rate largely 
to the fact that population increased 
mainly in the past due to immigration and 
that there is a much greater percentage 
of young people in the population now 
than there will be in the future. 

They view with concern the probable 
effects on the agricultural situation of the 
decreasing rate of increase in population 
and also the decreasing number of chil- 
dren annually enrolled in the first grade 
of the public schools and some forecast a 
condition of stationary population in 20 



October, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



153 



or 30 years, and, if the birth rate falls 
much below the present level, claim that 
a decline in population may be expected, 
provided immigration does not increase. 

With a decreased standard of living 
in the European countries and a lack of 
ability on their part to purchase, the 
exports to these countries have decreased, 
but this affects only directly the price of 
export crops. Statisticians have dis- 
covered that in the 5-year period from 
1922 to 1926 combined on average prices 
for farm products for the 10 years pre- 
ceding 1927, total farm production in- 
creased 14 per cent while population 
increased only 8 per cent. However, they 
also found that production in 1927 was 
less than in 1926, and in 1928 was equal 
to 1926, and it looks like peak agricultural 
production reached in 1926 is not likely 
to be exceeded very soon. 

INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATION PRODUCTS 
ON WORLD MARKET 

If it is true that the price which the 
farmer receives for his product is deter- 
mined by the price of surplus crops on the 
world market, it may be of interest to 
ascertain again from statistics just what 
influence the production of the irrigation 
farmer will have on the exportable sur- 
plus. It is found that about one-fourth 
of the wheat grown in the United States 
by approximately one-third of the farmers 
in the United States is exported. About j 
one-third of the tobacco crop is exported; 
one-third to one-half of the rice is ex- 
ported; nearly 1 per cent of the corn 
grown is exported; but from one-third to 
one-half of all corn grown in the United 
States is fed to hogs and about one-third 
of the lard produced is exported. About 
one-half of the cotton grown in the United 
States by about one-third of the farmers ] 
in the United States is exported, and 
probably three-fourths of the farmers in 
the United States receive prices for their 
major crops determined by world markets. 

With the exception of cotton, not any 
of the foregoing crops are the major crops 
of the irrigation farmer who produces 
alfalfa and barley to fatten cattle and 
sheep, dairy products, sugar beets for the 
production of sugar, potatoes, and fruits. 
Imports of beef, mutton, dairy products 
and wool exceed the exports. Only one- 
sixth of the sugar consumed in the United 
States is produced in the United States. 
It is therefore evident that the major 
crops of the irrigation farmer do not add 
to the exportable surplus or come in com- 
petition on the world market with the 
crops grown by at least three-fourths of 
the farmers in the United States. On the 
contrary, the irrigation farmer furnishes a 
market for the products of the farmers of 
the rain belt, and, on account of the wide 
distribution of these projects throughout 



the West, a more uniform distribution of 
population is possible and a direct benefit 
accrues to all in the rates of corporations 
serving the public and in increasing the 
home market for the products of the in- 
dustrial centers and in furnishing addi- 
tional opportunities for employment and 
higher wages. 

As long as the irrigation farmer pro- 
duces crops which supply the home mar- 
ket his competition is beneficial and our 
national welfare depends on our ability to 
produce enough food in the United States 
to supply the home demand at least. 
Even if agricultural production increased 
14 per cent from 1917 to 1926 while the 
population increased only 8 per cent, the 
opponents of reclamation will have to 
admit that if this 14 per cent increase 
could possibly have been occasioned by 
production on reclamation projects, it 
would not influence the exportable sur- 
plus except as to cotton and this not 
appreciably when total production is 
considered. 

There are many other arguments to 
refute the unfriendly criticism against 
the development of irrigation projects, 
such as the depletion of soil fertility which 
has always followed the plow in the rain 
belt and the decreasing ability to restore 
fertility with the replacement of work 
animals with machinery, but they were 
very fully discussed by Mr. Stoutemyer in 
his paper ' before this Congress about a 
year ago and do not need further comment. 
However, it might be added that if there 
is a tenant or landowner who has farmed 
land with depleted soil fertility in the rain 
belt and is producing exportable crops at 
a loss, a farm on an irrigation project may 



' Printed in Congressional Record of Dec. 7, 1928, 
!>. 222. 



give him a better opportunity to produce 
at a profit and will remove his export 
crops from competition with other surplus 
on world markets. 

LACK OF SETTLERS ON OTHER IRRIGA- 
TION PROJECTS 

The criticism that the building of more 
irrigation projects is unjustifiable at pres- 
ent because the Bureau of Reclamation is 
striving to get settlers on Federal recla- 
mation projects and that some of them 
are probably not over 50 per cent settled, 
and in that case payments contemplated 
to be made to the Government can not 
be made, brings us a little nearer home 
and to the consideration of the most direct 
and serious criticism which can be made 
of reclamation to-day, namely, the lack 
of settlers on completed projects. It is 
true that there are some reclamation 
projects built 10 or 15 years ago which do 
not have settlers on more than 60 per 
cent of the land. In most cases, an analy- 
sis of the situation relative to the aban- 
doned farms reveals that the titles are still 
held by owners who hope to sell out for 
more than the land is worth on a value 
determined by its probable producing 
ability. It is true that some purchasers 
paid too much for the land and that over- 
expansion and subsequent deflation finally 
caused them to quit farming and to hope 
for something to happen by which they 
might recover some of their losses. 

Some settlers have failed on reclama- 
tion projects because of lack of capital 
in the same manner as any other business 
fails. Some projects or divisions of proj- 
ects have in the past been built in local- 
ities where soil and climatic conditions 
were not favorable for success, at the 
insistence of the local people. However, 




Harvesting wheat with a combine on the Owyhee project, Oregon-Idaho 



154 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



October, 1929 



it is believed if the abandoned farms on 
nearly all of these projects could be offered 
to purchasers at a price based on the actual 
producing power of the land in its present 
state of cultivation, that one of the most 
formidable obstructions in the way of 
settlement would be removed. 

While we believe that the Vale and 
Owyhee projects are especially favored as 
to soil and climatic conditions, we can 
not expect that such a statement will be 
considered as conclusive argument that 
they will automatically settle promptly, 
as Congress and the Bureau of Reclama- 
tion have heard the stories of the excep- 
tional opportunities of each irrigation 
project in the past while construction 
funds were being sought, which assumed 
a different color when payments were 
being requested by the Government after 
the projects were completed and in 
operation. 

STEPS TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT TO EN- 
COURAGE SETTLEMENT ON VALE AND 
OWYHEE PROJECTS 

As was mentioned in the beginning, 
Congress had already appropriated 
$9,111,000 for the construction of the 
Vale and Owyhee projects, and the 
Interior Department and the Bureau of 
Reclamation have gone probably as far 
as they can under the law to encourage 
successful settlement, as follows: 

(a) All of the raw land on the projects 
has been appraised at $5 to $15 per acre, 
and the owner agrees to sell for that price 
in case he owns more than 160 acres; and 
in case he owns 160 acres or less, he agrees 
that when he sells he will turn over one- 
half of the amount received over the ap- 
praised price to the irrigation district to 
apply as a credit on the construction 



charge of the tract of land sold. This 
appraisal is to prevent the new settler 
from paying more than his land is worth. 
There is considerable difference between 
6 per cent interest annually on $50 per 
acre land and on $15 per acre land. 

(b) Congress has authorized the selec- 
tion of settlers for the Government lands 
of the project. The applicant must have 
at least $2,000 capital to have his appli- 
cation considered and must have the best 
qualifications as an irrigation farmer of 
any applicants for the particular piece of 
land desired. 

(c) Farm unit plats have been pub- 
lished showing the irrigable area in each 
40-acre tract which will receive water in 
1930, and the Secretary, on August 10, 
announced that applications to enter 
public land were to be receivable begin- 
ning September 3. 

(d) Bills have been introduced in Con- 
gress to provide a fund from which money 
could be loaned to settlers to finance 
building improvements on the raw lands, 
but such bills have not met with a great 
amount of support. 

(e) The Bureau of Reclamation has 
also prepared and published maps and 
circulars of the Vale project and the 
Owyhee project which conservatively 
describe the features of each and furnish 
reliable information which concerns the 
prospective settler. 

(/) The director of reclamation eco- 
nomics visited the projects on March 4, 
1929, and suggested an organization for 
carrying out a program of settlement. 

WORK DONE BY LOCAL AND STATE AGEN- 
CIES TO SECURE SETTLERS 

The foregoing outline the principal 
activities of the Government in the settle- 




Alfalfa hay on the Vale project, Oregon 



inent of the projects and constitute about 
all that can be done by the Government 
under the law, except such advisory as- 
sistance as may be given by the division 
of reclamation economics, of which Mr. 
Kreutzer is the head. The problem of 
settling the projects is, therefore, a local 
one and a partial solution is required 
promptly as 4,012 irrigable acres in the 
vicinity of Harper and Little Valley will 
be served with water in 1930. These 
4,012 acres will provide homes for 14 
families on 823 acres of public land which 
may be acquired by compliance with the 
homestead laws and department regula- 
tions, and for 58 families which either 
own land now or will acquire it by com- 
pletion of rights initiated or by purchase. 
There will be room, therefore, for the 
activities of 72 families. 

The full development of the two proj- 
ects depends upon the success in coloni- 
zation of the various units as they are 
completed; for, if settlers do not desire 
to locate on irrigation projects, Congress 
can see no good reason why some delay 
at least in the building program of those 
started will be harmful and that it may 
be beneficial to withhold appropriations 
until settlement catches up with construc- 
tion, and can see no reason at all for 
undertaking new ones in those localities 
where settlement is delayed. The steps 
which have been taken by the local people 
interested in the two projects indicate 
that they are fully aware of the impor- 
tance of settling the projects, and some of 
the items of work accomplished are as 
follows : 

(a) Public meetings have been held for 
the purpose of organizing for carrying out 
a settlement program for the various units 
of the Vale project and of the Owyhee 
project. 

(b) The Vale-Owyhee Government 
Projects Land Settlement Association 
was organized on March 13, 1929, and the 
membership of the board of directors is 
as follows: 

J. D. Fairman, Harper, Oreg., mer- 
chant, banker, and chairman of the 
board; Estes Morton, Harper, Oreg., 
banker and secretary of the board; C. H. 
i Oxman, Ontario, Oreg., farmer and vice 
, chairman; H. C. Boyer, Ontario, Oreg., 
merchant; R. J. Davis, Nyssa, Oreg., 
farmer; J. J. Sarazin, Nyssa, Oreg., phy- 
sician; E. P. Hendricks, Vale, Oreg., 
farmer; Ike Robinette, Vale, Oreg., mer- 
chant; S. D. Goshert, Nyssa, Oreg., 
fanner and seed merchant; J. P. Duna- 
way, Nyssa, Oreg., banker. 

(c) A yearly budget to extend over a 
5-year period, for advertising and other 
purposes of the land settlement com- 
mittee, was subscribed as follows: 



October, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



155 



Harper Commercial Club $175 

Vale Commercial Club 275 

Ontario Commercial Club 275 

Nyssa Commercial Club 275 

M'alheur County 1,000 

Oregon State Chamber of Com- 
merce 600 

Total 2, 600 

(d) Ten thousand copies of a booklet 
descriptive of the two projects were pre- 
pared and printed and distributed. In 
the preparation of this booklet, the land 
settlement committee had the assistance 
of Mr. W. G. Ide, of the State Chamber 
of Commerce, and Mr. W. J. Martin, 
assistant supervisor of agriculture of the 
Union Pacific Railroad Co., who attended 
a number of the meetings. 

(e) Arrangements were made for J. D. 
Fairman and Estes Morton to show pro- 
spective settlers over the lands in the 
Harper and Little Valley areas, for which 
water will be available in 1930. 

(/) The Oregon State Chamber of Com- 
merce is assisting in advertising the land 
for which water will be available by run- 
ning short notices in about two dozen farm 
and daily papers in the States of Montana, 
Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Washington, 
and California. 

(g) The Vale, Oreg., irrigation district 
is paying for the services of an employee 
who will show prospective settlers over 
the Vale project. 

(h) The association, through the Vale, 
Oreg., irrigation district, has mailed let- 
ters of inquiry to all landowners on the 
Harper and Little Valley areas with 
request that they advise if they desire to 
sell their land or if they intend to improve 
and farm it themselves. 

RESULTS 

The status of the settlement results of 
the Harper and Little Valley areas of the 
Vale project is as follows, and the success 
so far obtained in selling the private land 
is due largely to efforts of the local agency, 
the Vale-Owyhee Government Projects 
Land Settlement Association: 

(a) Eight owners of private land have 
indicated their intention to farm and im- 
prove eight farms totaling 481 irrigable 
acres. 

(6) A large number of applications have 
been received for the selection of the 14 
available farm units of public land. 

(c) Sales at appraised prices have been 
made to 19 purchasers of 1,129 irrigable 
acres of private land. At least 95 per 
cent of the land thus sold was owned by 
the Oregon & Western Colonization Co. 
These purchasers are mainly from Oregon 
and Idaho, who are familiar with condi- 
tions in the Snake River Valley. 

(d) Eighteen tracts, amounting to 1,067 
acres, are not for sale on account of being 
involved in the settlement of estates, lack 
of completion of fights initiated prior to 



the withdrawal of the land from entry, 
and conformation of entries in excess of 
160 acres. 

(e) Thirteen tracts, covering an irri- 
gable area of 512 acres, out of the 58 tracts 
previously mentioned, are available for 
sale at this time. 

(/) While the main object has been the 
settlement of the Harper and Little Valley 
areas, there have been a number of people 
visit the project who are not ready to 
begin farming in 1930 or who, for various 
reasons, prefer land on other parts of the 
project, and sales of about 1,200 irrigable 
acres have been made to 14 purchasers 
from the States of Kansas, Utah, Colo- 
rado, Montana, Illinois, and West Vir- 
ginia, from other points in Oregon, and 
from Canada. 

(g) Hundreds of letters of inquiry have 
been received and answered by the various 
civic and commercial organizations and 
many people have visited the projects who 
expect to return later and purchase a 
location for a home. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR SECURING ADDI- 
TIONAL SETTLERS 

(a) The Vale-Owyhee Government 
Projects Land Settlement Association has 
accomplished some very creditable and 
commendable results and has laid the 
foundation for future accomplishments, 
but this organization must be kept active 
and must have funds with which to work. 

(6) In order that the incoming settlers 
may be enabled to more quickly place 
their farms on a producing basis, the com- 
munities, through the Vale-Owyhee 
Government Projects Land Settlement 
Association, might work for the passage 
of legislation which would provide a 



'modest appropriation for financing settlers 
in the improvement of their farms. 

(c) If Federal assistance in this con- 
nection is not considered necessary or 
acceptable, consideration might be given 
to forming a local finance corporation for 
assisting settlers in improving their lands. 



Applications for Power at 
Boulder Dam 

The Department of the Interior on 
September 10 sent out notices to all 
prospective purchasers of power to be 
generated at Boulder Dam that their 
applications for such power must be 
filed with the department in Washington 
not later than October 1. The parties 
concerned are principally municipalities 
in the lower Colorado basin, including the 
States of Arizona, California, and Nevada. 
The notice was as follows: 

Notice is hereby given that all prospec- 
tive purchasers of power to be generated 
at the proposed dam on the Colorado 
River, the construction of which is au- 
thorized by the Boulder Canyon proj- 
ect act of" December 21, 1928" (48 Stat. 
1057), should file applications therefor 
with the Secretary of the Interior, Wash- 
ington, D. C., not later than October 1, 
1929. Applications should state the 
quantity of power desired and should 
contain a general statement concerning 
the purposes and place of use of the power 
covered by the application, with such 
other information as may be considered 
necessary. The early submission of 
applications is desirable in order that a 
decision may be reached concerning the 
allotment of the power to be made avail- 
able by this development. 




Roosevelt dam, Salt River project, Arizona, showing taintor gates 




Reclamation Project Women and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Club Activities of Juniors on Federal Reclamation Projects 



THE September issue gave an account 
and illustrations of the live Junior 
club activities on the Uncompahgre 
project, Colorado. 

Shoshone Project, Wyoming 

Juniors on this project vie for honors. 
BOYS' CLUB WORK 

This is in charge of Mr. A. 'Fellhauer, 
assistant county agent, who is shown in 
the group of four comprising the stock 
judging team of the club. 

Mr. Fellhauer came to the project in 
August from the University of Wyoming, 
where he had been graduate assistant in 
the animal husbandry department. He 
taught stock judging and assisted with 
the university stock-judging teams. Con- 
sequently when he took charge of the 
work here he immediately gave the club 
members regular instruction and practice 
in judging livestock. 

Five boys' 4-H clubs were organized in 
May and about 33 boys carried the work 
through the summer. Of these 21 entirely 
completed the work by turning in their 
records and stories. The sheep club was 
composed of 6 members, the dairy calf 
club 8 members, the poultry club 6 
members (2 were girls), swine or pig club 
8, and potato club 5 members. 

No purebred livestock was used or 
available at prices that the boys could or 



were willing to pay, except two pig club 
boys who each had a registered Duroc 
sow. One of these raised a ton litter. 
However, at the State fair the assistant 
agent purchased a registered Corriedale 
buck for Allan Swallow, sheep club 
member. In this way it is hoped to 
gradually work into better livestock for 
the clubs and the flat. 

Regular club meetings were held 
through the summer except during the 
rush seasons, when the boys often could 
not attend. Meetings were scheduled 
twice a month for each club, at which time 
the local leaders and assistant agent gave 
the clubs instructions or information on 
their projects. Picnics were held from 
time to time. 

The county fair was held the last of 
August, so there was not much time after 
the arrival of the assistant county agent 
on the project to prepare for it. Also only 
three demonstrations were prepared on 
account of lack of time. The Dairy Club 
prepared a demonstration on the produc- 
tion of clean milk, but at fair time one 
of the members was sick so this demon- 
stration could not be given. The Potato 
Club gave a demonstration on potato 
diseases and their control. The Poultry 
Club gave a demonstration on feeding 
hens for increased egg production. The 
Potato Club team was adjudged winner 
and won the right to participate at the 
State fair held at Douglas, September 




Left to right: A. Fellhauer, assistant county agent; Luther Moore, Allan Swallow, Paul 

McLaughliu 

156 



18-22. Hubert Hart and Joe Reis were 
on this team. 

A judging contest was held at the 
county fair and a team of three boys, 
namely, Luther Moore, Allan Swallow, 
and Paul McLaughlin, were picked to go 
to the State fair and compete in the 
judging contest there. (See photograph.) 

Sixteen club (boys) members exhibited 
at the county fair and competed for the 
prize money allowed for club work by the 
county and farm bureau. The county 
offered $200 as prize money for boys and 
girls and the County Farm Bureau added 
$100 to this sum in order to have more 
liberal prizes. This prize money is a real 
stimulant to do more and better club work 
by the boys and girls. 

The stock-judging team took first prize 
at the State fair. In competition with 
eight other county teams they won the 
King Bros, trophy and a banner given by 
the fair for taking highest honors. Allan 
Swallow made 513 points out of a possible 
600 and was second high individual of the 
contest. Paul McLaughlin made 474 
points and Luther Moore made 464. 
Two of the boys were 13 years of age 
and the other 14, and they were rather 
skeptical about their chances of winning 
when they saw some of the older and 
bigger teams with which they had to 
compete. However, the Park County 
team (members are all from the project) 
was high and won the right to represent 
this State at the contest at the National 
Western Stock Show at Denver last 
January. 

The achievement program for 4-H boys 
and girls was held in the Powell High 
School, October 19. Following is a copy 
of the program which may give an idea 
of what took place: 

Picnic supper at 7 p. m. in the gym- 
nasium. 

Program upstairs in the auditorium at 
8 p. m. (Mrs. J. R. Northrup, chairman). 

Program to consist of the following: 

Singing of club songs, led by Mr. 
Marston. 

Club work in relation to the commu- 
nity, Mr. Earl Murray. 

Club stunts, by the different clubs. 

Model club meeting, by Mrs. North- 
rup's club. 

Kitchen textiles, demonstration. 

The girl's trip to the State fair, Viola 
Krause. 

More club stunts, by the different clubs. 

Two-minute talks, by the club leaders. 

Our trip to the State fair, Paul Mc- 
Laughlin. 



October, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



157 



Club work in Wyoming, Mr. B. W. 
Marston, State club leader. 

Presentation of charters and pins. 

A notable achievement of the year was 
that of Raymond Cles, a 14-year-old sec- 
ond-year pig club boy, who raised a ton 
litter from his Duroc sow in six months. 
The litter weighed 2,145 pounds. The 
sow farrowed 1 1 pigs and Raymond saved 
and raised 10 of these. During the gesta- 
tion period the sow was on alfalfa and 
sweet clover pasture and was fed ground 
oats and skim milk. After farrowing she 
was fed a slop made of middlings, and 
ground wheat and barley were gradually 
added to the oats. Raymond grew and 
fattened the pigs, after weaning, on 
ground wheat, barley, and skim milk, 
and allowed them on sweet clover pasture. 
Raymond's record showed that he made 
$118 on his litter, and in addition won 
$22.50 in prize money at the county fair. 

In January of this year the State cham- 
pion stock-judging team went to the 
Denver contest at the stock show. They 
stopped off at the University of Wyoming 
and worked over some of the university 
livestock. Only three 4-H club teams 
were at the show to take part in the con- 
test on January 12. The Colorado team 
took first, Wyoming second, and New 
Mexico third. The Wyoming team was 
high on reasons but fell down badly on 
placings. The Powell Farm Bureau, the 
County Farm Bureau, and the Powell 
Chamber of Commerce donated money to 
defray the greater part of the expenses of 
sending the team to Denver. The boys 
were in Denver a week, during which time 
they were shown about town, the park, 
the museum, and other places of educa- 
tional value and' interest. 

GIRLS' CLUB WORK 

This is in charge of Miss Marjorie Eells, 
home demonstration agent. Miss Eells 
states club work means much to the girls 
in Park County. Last summer 101 of 
them were enrolled; 53 in food clubs, 48 
in clothing clubs, and about 80 of them 
completed the required work and sent in 
their records and stories. There were 
two clubs in the upper part of the county, 
at Sage Creek and North Fork; the rest 
were on the Powell Flat. 

The home demonstration agent enrolled 
the members in May through the schools. 
Local leaders were then selected for each 
club and the clubs were organized by the 
end of the first week in June. There were 
first, second, third, and fourth year sewing 
clubs; each club had their work definitely 
outlined and each girl made four or five 
articles. The first year work is very 
simple and starts with hand sewing on an 
apron or bag, darning, machine sewing, 



I and ends with a dress or nightgown. The 
second year includes three articles of un- 
derwear and a dress; the third and fourth 
year girls take up work with silk and wool 
materials and tailored finishes for dresses 
and coats and household linens and 
curtains. 

In the food clubs the girls start in with 
the simplest of foods and learn how to 
prepare toast and cocoa well, then take up 
fruits, cereals, eggs, milk dishes, table 
service, biscuits, cookies, and picnic 
menus. The second and third year girls 
take up more difficult work, which includes 
breads, cakes, desserts, canning, preserv- 
ing, and pickling, also the canning of 
meats. The clubs meet once a week or in 
some cases once every two weeks with 
their leader and take up the work assigned 
for each meeting. They conduct regular 
business meetings with officers and com- 
! mittees, which gives them splendid busi- 
ness training and experience. The after- 
noon ends with a recreation period, which 
is planned by a committee, and refresh- 
ments are served, though some of the 
clubs dispense with this. 

The social training and the art of con- 
ducting good business meetings is a valua- 
ble part of the club work in training for 
future leadership. 

Last year Miss Birdseye, national nutri- 
tion specialist from Washington, D. C., 
was in the county and gave the club girls 
one day for special health work, including 
singing of club songs, health games and 
stunts, and contests in which the girls 
were divided into three squads and weighed, 
measured, checked up for proper posture, 
and prints taken of their feet. Some of 
the groups made the health work a part of 
their regular program and spent some 



time at each meeting on posture exercises 
and games. 

Each club girl was required to take part 
in a demonstration showing some practice 
they had learned in club work. They gave 
their demonstration before their own club 
members and the mothers and the best 
team from each club was selected to enter 
the county competition. This was given 
at the county fair in August and here the 
best county team was chosen to go to the 
State fair at Douglas. Last year Mrs. 
Lloyd Krause's team of third year food 
club girls, Ruth Miller and Viola Krause, 
won in the county contest on a demonstra- 
tion in salad making. 

The club puts up good looking and 
worth-while exhibits of both clothing and 
food club work at the county fair, and sent 
seven dozen jars of canned goods and 10 
complete clothing exhibits to the State 
fair. 

County club achievement day was held 
the evening of the 19th of October at 
Powell, at the Powell High Schoo 1 , with a 
picnic supper, followed by a program 
which was presided over by Mrs. J. R. 
Northrup, county club leader, and in- 
cluded talks by Mr. Marston, State club 
leader, and Mr. Earl Murray, a model 
business meeting by one of the clubs, a 
demonstration on kitchen textiles by 
another, and also talks by the leaders and 
presidents of the various clubs, and ended 
with the awarding of charters to 11 clubs 
and pins to 70 girls. 

With such a showing of the training of 
the young girls on our projects we can 
look in the future with optimism as to 
the type of homemakers the combination 
of this club work, good home environ- 
ment, and encouragement will develop. 




Flower exhibits from the camp at the Owyhee dam take prizes at Nyssa Flower Show 



158 



NEW RECLAMATION EKA 



October, 1929 



Aided and Directed Settlement 

in Australia 



THE State Rivers and Water Supply 
Commission of East Melbourne, 
Victoria, Australia, has furnished the fol- 
lowing information regarding the de- 
velopment of irrigation projects in that 
State: 

In order to induce settlement and assist 
the newcomer on an irrigation project the 
commission has undertaken to subdivide 
into holdings of suitable size the land 
acquired for irrigated closer settlement, 
and the land is fenced and served to the 
highest part of each farm unit with a 
water channel. As a further attraction 
to the prospective settler a house of four 
or five rooms is erected on the holding in 
order that the successful applicant may 
be able to take immediate possession. In 
some instances before occupation the 
holdings are plowed, graded, and planted 
to alfalfa, but this practice is not uni- 
versal, and there is a general tendency on 
the part of the settlers to dispute the cost 
and general lay-out of the alfalfa stand 
after entering the occupancy. 

Irrigation holdings are disposed of on a 
conditional purchase lease extending over 
a period of 36}^ years, the purchase money 
being repayable in 73 half-yearly instal- 
ments consisting of 5 per cent interest and 
1 per cent sinking fund per annum. A 
successful applicant is required to deposit 
3 per cent of the capital value of the land 
when he takes possession, and thereafter 
meet instalments as they fall due. 

The settlers are instructed in the best 
methods of laying out and developing their 
farms and erecting improvements by a 
farm supervisor, each irrigation district 



having a resident engineer and one or 
more farm supervisors, as the district may 
require. The supervisor is required to 
report regularly to the commission regard- 
ing the progress of each settler, and also 
to report on applications of settlers for 
financial assistance to develop their hold- 
ings. The cost of this service was origi- 
nally met by the difference between the 
current rate of interest and the 5 per cent 
charged on land and advances. However, 
as the interest rate on borrowed money is 
not too high to allow a profitable margin 
for administration, the matter of increas- 
ing the rate charged to settlers is under 
consideration. 

During the first six years there is a 
statutory limit of advance against any 
one holding of $3,125, the amount ad- 
vanced varying with the class of farm, 
although in some cases, particularly in the 
dried-fruit areas, it has been necessary to 
exceed this sum. After six years, however, 
the act permits advances up to $5,000. 

The commission may advance as much 
as 80 per cent of the value of the improve- 
ments effected and 100 per cent on the 
security of stock and implements for the 
purchase thereof. The rate of interest is 
5 per cent, the advances on improvements 
being for a period of 20 years and on stock 
and implements 5 years. 

More than $11,000,000 has been ad- 
vanced for land settlement in irrigated 
closer areas in the State, of which slightly 
more than $8,000,000 represents the cap- 
ital value of the land disposed of and 
$3,000,000 the amount advanced for 
improvements, stock, and implements. 



Italy Plans Large Reclama- 
tion Program 

The plan for reclamation, irrigation, 
and land improvement in Italy, which 
went into operation on July 1, provides 
for the following expenditures: 

Lire 

Reclamation 4, 500, 000, 000 

Irrigation 1, 000, 000, 000 

Land improvement 1 , 000, 000, 000 

Potable water 200, 000, 000 



Total 6,700,000,000 

Of this sum the State will provide 
3,800,000,000 lire in 30 annual install- 
ments which will be discounted through 
the Associazione Nazionale delle Boni- 
fiche, the balance being met by land- 
owners in 30 annual installments. 

Of Italy's total agrarian area of 
28,500,000 hectares, the area to be im- 
proved amounts to 3,500,000 hectares or 
12.33 per cent. 

The Associazione Nazionale delle Boni- 
fiche is an organization created under the 
auspices of the government in connection 
with Mussolini's vast program of reclama- 
tion. It is presided over by ex-Minister 
of Finance De Stefani, and is reported to 
be doing much good work in advising 
landowners and farmers, and arrariging 
for loans on properties represented by 
consortiums of landowners. 



\ CONTRACT has been awarded for 
jL\. the construction of a potato meal 
plant at Burley, Minidoka project. The 
plant will cost $100,000 for the initial in- 
stallation, will operate 10 to 12 months 
per year, and will employ 25 men. 



BEET SUGAR FACTORIES ON THE FEDERAL RECLAMATION PROJECTS. 1928 



Project 


Location of factory 


Rated daily 
capacity 
(tons of 
beets) 


Tons of 
beets pur- 
chased 1928 


Amount 
paid for 
beets 


Pounds of 
sugar pro- 
duced 


Acreage of 
sugar beets 
on specified 
projects, 
1928 


Tons of 
beets pro- 
duced on 
specified 
projects, 
1928 


Value of 
beets to 
water users 
1928 


Grand Valley, Colo 


Grand Junction 


950 


35,400 


$247, 803 


8,037,500 


1,089 


10,452 


$73,044 




Delta 


950 


44,000 


300,000 


15,000,000 


2,908 


25,085 


175, 595 




Burley.. . 


800 


19,542 


146, 560 


5, 100, 000 


1,733 


16,718 


136,381! 




Billings 


2,750 


188, 959 


1,417,190 


CO, 092, 600 


2,700 


27, 000 


202,800 


Milk River Mont 


Chinook - . 


900 


31,880 


223, 160 


8, 823, 000 


686 


5,575 


:w, i)-V, 




Sidney 


1,200 


50,394 


352, 758 


13, 347, 500 


5,825 


44,666 


312,662 


North Platte Nebr -Wyo 


Torrington 


2,200 














Do 


Scottsblufl 


2,000 














Do 


Gering 


1,200 














Do 


Bayard 


1,300 


1, 100, 000 


7, 735, 592 


320, 000, 000 


41,271 


479, 108 


3,425,630 


Do 


Mitchell 


1,300 














Do 


Minatare 


1,300 














Do 


I,y;n;m . 


1,300 














Belle Fourche S Dak 


Belle Fourche 


1,500 


124, 475 


871,325 


30, 000, 000 


6,929 


83,974 


608,811 




Spanish Fork 


1,275 


61, 105 


427, 735 


20, 000, 000 




nna 




Do 


Springville 


550 


28,008 


203, 867 


7, 503, 000 








Shoshone, Wyo 


Lovell 


1,000 


116,380 


872, 873 


20, 535, 000 


4,911 


48,997 


367, 477 








1 800, 143 


12, 789, 863 


508, 438, 600 


1 71, 132 


777, 582 


5, 582, 171 





















1 In addition sugar beets were grown to a minor extent on 4 other projects on 118 acres, producing 783 tons, valued at $10,811. 



October, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



159 



. 

I.ytrv-ui. ' 

- . 

- 

. 







BEET SUGAR FACTORIES 
ON THE PROJECTS 




160 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



October, 1929 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



DR. Ehvood Mead, Commissioner of 
Reclamation, and Miss Mae A. 
Schnurr, assistant to the commissioner, 
returned to Washington, D. C., on Sep- 
tember 14 after a month's absence largely 
in attendance at a joint meeting of the 
American and Mexican sections of the 
International Water Commission in Mex- 
ico City. Doctor Mead is chairman and 
Miss Schnurr secretary of the American 
section. 



D. C. Henny, consulting engineer, of 
Portland, Oreg., has been authorized to 
represent the Bureau of Reclamation at 
the World's Engineering Congress, which 
is to convene in Tokyo, Japan, October 
29, 1929. 

Ralph Lowry. construction engineer, 
assigned to the Gibson Dam, Sun River 
project, has reported for duty at the 
Denver office. After completing the fea- 
ture history report on Gibson Dam he 
will work on designs and estimates for 
the proposed Cle Elum Dam, Yakima 
project. 

Dr. Fredrik Vogt, consulting engineer, 
is returning to Norway to take up his 
regular work as assistant to the professor 
of applied mechanics, Norwegian Insti- 
tute of Technology. Doctor Vogt was 
employed by the bureau in experimental 
and investigational work connected with 
the design of arch dams, the larger part 
of the work being carried on in coopera- 
tion with the Engineering Foundation 
Arch Dam Committee and the University 
of Colorado. 



C. A. Bissell, engineer in charge of the 
engineering division of the Washington 
office, spent several days in the Denver 
office and then left to take charge of in- 
vestigations of Red Bluff Reservoir, 
Tex. 



Conferences were held at Denver during 
the month with representatives of the 
various interests which desire to obtain 
power from Boulder Dam, at which the 
question of allocation of power and the 
value of power at Boulder Dam was de- 
termined by the cost of substitute steam 
power, was discussed. A committee was 
appointed to make a study of the value of 
power at Boulder Dam, consisting of H. A. 
Barre, chief engineer of the Southern 
California Edison Co.; E. F. Scattergood, 



chief electrical engineer of the Los Angeles 
Bureau of Power and Light; and L. N. 
McClellan, electrical engineer of the Bu- 
reau of Reclamation. 



Estoppel to Question 

Government's Claim 

On June 14, 1915, the Bridgeport irri- 
gation district entered into a Warren Act 
contract with the United States for the 
purchase of a water supply from Path- 
finder Reservoir, North Platte project. 
The contract was not authorized by a 
vote of the electorate of the district. The 
district paid the amounts due under the 
contract for the years 1915 to 1919, but 
failed to make the construction charge 
payments due under the terms of the 
contract for the years 1920 to 1924, 
amounting to $54,334. Suit was brought 
by the United States to enforce collec- 
tion. To the Government's complaint 
the district answered that the board of 
directors did not, under the Statutes of 
Nebraska, have the authority to execute 
the contract, unless authorized to do so by 
a vote of the electorate of the district. 
The Government demurred. On July 15, 
1929, the District Court of the United 
States for the District of Nebraska held 
that the district board of directors was 
authorized, without an election, to make 
the contract under sections 3465 and 3466, 
Revised Statutes of Nebraska, 1913, and 
under chapter 69 of Nebraska Session 
Laws, 1915, amending section 3466. Fur- 
thermore, the court held that the defendant 
was estopped, by reason of its long delay 
to assert the claim of its answer against 
the Government. The court cited the 
following cases as upholding the con- 
tention of the United States: Oshkosk v. 
Fairbanks, Morse & Co., 8 Feb. (2) 329; 
N. Y. Trust Co. v. Farmers Irr. Dist., 
280 Fed. 785; State v. Gering Irr. Dist., 
192 N. W. 212; Gas Securities Co. v. 
Antero, etc., Co., 259 Fed. 423; Omaha 
Gas Co. v. City of Omaha, 249 Fed. 350; 
Village of Davenport v. Meyer Hydro 
Elec. Co., 193 N. W. 719; Central Power 
Co. v. Central City, 282 Fed. 998; Slocum 
v. North Platte, 192 Fed. 252; Rogers v. 
City of Omaha, 80 Neb. 591; 107 N. W. 
214; Vicksburg v. Vicksburg Water Co., 
206 U. S. 496; Ohio & M. R. Co. v. 
McCarthy, 96 U. S. 258; Wyman v. 
Searle, 128 N. W., 801; 23 C. J. 102, 
sec. 1901; U. S. v. West Side Irr. Co., 
230 Fed. 284; 246 Fed. 212; U. S. v. 
Ramshorn Ditch Co., 254 Fed. 842. 



C. S. Scofield, of the Department of 
Agriculture, and W. P. Kelley, of the ex- 
periment station of the University of Cali- 
fornia at Riverside, vi.sited the Grand Val- 
ley and Uncompahgre projects recently to 
examine alkali conditions on the projects. 



B. E. Hayden, reclamation economist, is 
on the Milk River project in charge of the 
survey for the possible elimination of tem- 
porarily unproductive lands in the Chi- 
nook division. 

E. R. Scheppelmann, chief clerk of the 
Lower Yellowstone project, returned to 
duty on September 1 after an absence of 
three months on account of illness. 



Division Engineer Moberly and Assis- 
tant Division Engineer Petersen, of the 
Oregon Short Line Railroad, spent a day 
on the Vale project looking over the 
proposed wasteway crossings under the 
tracks of the railroad. 



J. R. lakisch, drainage engineer, spent 
several days on the Belle Fourche project 
to consider drainage problems and to 
confer on the procedure for the 1930 
construction work. 



Sr. Luciano Jacques de Moraes, of the 
Brazilian Department of Agriculture, 
visited the Yakima project recently and 
was shown its most interesting features. 



L. J. Postisil, mechanical engineer, 
Washington Water Power Co. of Spokane, 
Wash., was a recent visitor at Guernsey 
Dam, North Platte project. He was 
particularly interested in the 50 by 50 
foot sluice gate in the north spillway. 



Barry Dibble, former project manager 
of the Minidoka project, was a recent 
visitor on the project. 

H. R. McBirney, engineer in the Denver 
office, spent several days on the gravity 
extension unit of the Minidoka project 
studying local conditions in connection 
with the design of structures, applicability 
of canal gradients, sections, etc. 



John G. Heinz, a former employee of 
the bureau on the Yakima project, visited 
the Klamath project recently. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 19T9 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 

HON. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Jos. M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 

Norlhcutt Ely and Ernest W. Sawyer, Executive Assistants 

Washintlon. D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 
Daaer, Colorado, Wilda Buildinf 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Ilydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Offutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; C. A. 
Lyman, Field Representative. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 




Newell, S Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt 


J. P. Siebeneicher 
W. L. Vernon 


J. P. Siebebeicher 


Wm. J. Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise ' 




R. J. Newell 




B. E. Stoutemyer 


Carlsbad 


Carlsbad, N Mex 


L E. Foster 


W. C. Berger 


W. C. Berger 


H. J. S. Devrie.s 




Grand Junction, Colo. 


J C Page 


W. J. Chiesman 


W. J. Chiesman 


J. R. Alexander 


Huntley 3 










King Hill 3 


King Hill Idaho 












Klamath Falls, Oreg.. 


H. D Newell 


N. G. Wheeler 


Joseph C. Avery 


R. J. Coffey 




H A Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann- - 
E. E. Chabot 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E. Chabot 


E. E. Roddis 


Milk River 


Malta, Mont 


H H Johnson 


do 


Minidoka * 


K B Darlington 


G. C. Patterson 


Miss A. J. Larson 


B. E. Stoutemyer 




Fallon Nev 






R. J. Coffey 


North Platte 6 


Mitchell Nebr 


H. C. Stetson 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Wm. J. Burke 












B. E, Stoutemyer 


Orland 


Orland Calif 


R. C E Weber 


(' 11 LilliiiKstun 


C. H. Lillingston 


R. J. Coffey 


Owyhee. 


Owyhee, Oreg 
El Paso, Tex 


F. A. Banks.... 
L R Fiock 


H. N. Bickel. 
Henry II. Berryhill 


Frank P Greene 


B. E. Stoutemyer 




H. J S Devries 




H D Comstock 


R. B. Smith 


Erie W. Shepard 


Wm J Burke 


Salt Lake Basin... 
Salt River 8 


Salt Lake City, Utah . 




















Powell Wyo 


L H Mitchell 


W F Sha 




E E Roddis 


Strawberry Valley 10 . . . 
Sun River n 












Fairfield Mont 


G O Sanford 


H W Johnson 


H W Johnson 


E E Roddis 




/Irrigon, Oreg 










Umatilla " 


\Hermiston, Oreg 












L. J. Foster 


G. H. Bolt... 


F. D. Helm... 


J. R. Alexander 


Vale 




H. W. Bashore 
P. J. Preston 


C. M. Voyen 
R. K. Cunningham ... 
H. R. Pasewalk 


C. M. Voyen 
J. C. Gawler 


B. E. Stoutemyer 




Yakima, Wash 


do .. . 






R. M. Priest 


E. M. Philebaum 


R. J. Coffey 











Large Construction Work. 



Salt Lake Basin Echo 


Coalville, Utah 


F F Smith 


C. F. Williams 




J. R. Alexander 


Montrose, Colo. 


Dam. 

Kittitas 




Walker R Young 13 


E. R. Mills 




B. E. Stoutemyer 


Portland, Oreg. 




Fairfield Mont 


\ W Walker 13 .. 






E. E. Roddis 


Billings, Mont. 


construction. 






C B Funk 




B. E. Stoutemyer 


Portland, Oreg. 


wood Dam. 















927. E. E. Lewis, manager. 

3 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District on Mar. 1, 1926. 
F. L. Kinkade, manager. 

1 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation Dis- 
trict on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District on 
Dec. 2, 1916. 

> Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1926. D. S. Stuver, manager. 

8 Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926, and Northport Division by North- 
port Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



7 Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 
Joe C. Iddings, manager. 

8 Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. C. C. Cragin, general superintendent and chief engineer. 

8 Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shcshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

' Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. Lee R. Taylor, manager. 

n Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

1! Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926. A. C. Houghton, manager; and East Division by Hermiston Irriga- 
tion District informally on July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926. 
Enos D. Martin, manager. 

' 5 Construction engineer. 



Important Inccslijathm in Progress 



Project 



Office 



In charge of 



Cooperative agency 



All-Ameriean Canal investigations Yuma, Ariz... n. J. Gault 

Gila River cooperative investigations Safford, Ariz.. C. C. Fisher Arizona and New Mexico. 

Utah investigations I Salt Lake City, Utah. E.O.Larson State of Utah 

Yakima project extensions : | Yakima. Wash P. J. Preston 

Alcova-Casper and Saratoga projects i Casper, Wyo... J. R. lakisch 




UJ 

cr 
< 
I 

UJ 

I 



NEW 

RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



NOVEMBER, 1929 



NO. 11 




WATCHFUL WAITING 

THESE THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS BIRDS ARE BEING GROWN IN INCREASING NUMBERS ON THE 

FEDERAL IRRIGATION PROJECTS 




COOPERATION 

OOPERA TION among farmers, whether for marketing, for 
obtaining credit, or for the purchase of farm supplies, aims at 
providing a means whereby farmers may strengthen their eco- 
nomic position. Through cooperative marketing and purchasing, 
the farmer becomes a joint owner in large-scale business units 
which are directed toward rendering farm production and the 
distribution of farm products more efficient. Farmers, through 
cooperative organization, aim to eliminate waste, to improve the 
grading and standardization of farm products, to handle and 
distribute farm products efficiently, and to promote better pro- 
duction practices in short, to achieve more efficient production 
and marketing. Cooperative organization also aims to improve 
the most important part of rural life, human relationships to 
encourage the development of greater social unity in a commu- 
nity and an occupational consciousness and pride on the part 
of the farm population." 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



RAY LYMAN WILBUR 
Secretary of the Interior 



Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price 75 cents a year 

ELWOOD MEAD 
Comznunooer, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



November, 1929 



No. 11 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



f I ^HE new creamery located in Worden, 
JL Huntley project, has averaged 250 
pounds of butter per day. The cheese 
factory opened recently at Ballantine has 
had an output of 100 pounds of cheese 
per day. 

A VERY creditable showing of flowers 
was made recently at the public 
exhibit by the Mesa County Improve- 
ment Association, Grand Valley project. 
The exhibit included all fall flowers and 
filled the city auditorium. Prizes were 
offered for many varieties from funds 
provided by the local civic and business 
organizations. 



A!" the close of September 25 farms on 
the Orland project, with an aggre- 
gate area of 825 acres and an appraised 
value of $97,500, had been placed under 
option to the United States for another 
period of 12 months, ending December 31, 
1930. These farms will be sold to settlers 
on amortized payments over a period of 
20 years. 

SIX applications had been received on 
the Vale project to the end of Sep- 
tember for the selection of seven farm units 
of public land, embracing 525 irrigable 
acres of the total of 823 irrigable acres 
opened to entry recently. Sales at ap- 
praised prices have been made to 24 pur- 
chasers of 1,398 irrigable acres of private 
land. Clearing and plowing are in prog- 
ress on a number of the tracts of the Har- 
per and Little Valley units. 



^ I ^HE Langell Valley cheese factory, 
JL Klamath project, has begun oper- 
ations and at the end of the month was 
receiving 2,200 pounds of milk daily. 



SEVERAL prospective settlers were 
shown over the Riverton project 
recently. Two applications for farm 
units were received and one applicant 
made homestead entry. 

7613729 



IT is estimated that the 76,000 acres of 
sugar beets in the North Platte 
Valley will average about 12% tons per 
acre, for which the growers will be paid 
about $6,650,000. 



/BOUNTY fairs were held at Glasgow, 
\^* Dodson, and Chinook, Milk River 
project, and in each instance the exhibits 
from the irrigated project land were out- 
standing. A large scale model of an 
irrigated farm was displayed by the 
county agent and attracted a great deal 
of favorable attention. 



CCAL officials of the Milwaukee 
Railroad visited the Sun River 
project recently and met the commis- 
sioners of the irrigation district for the 
purpose of securing their ideas as to 
settlement problems and to advise them 
that the railroad was ready to help in 
any way possible. An effort will be made 
to secure options on land at reasonable 
prices and terms of sale. 



^ I ^HE recent sale of Yuma County 
_L road bonds has inaugurated a 
program of road construction and im- 
provement which will be of considerable 
value in the further development of 
Unit B, Mesa division of the Yuma 
project, Arizona. 



A PLAN for furthering the develop- 
ment of the pecan industry in the 
Yuma Valley has recently been placed 
before the investors of the community. 
One of the pioneers of the industry on the 
Yuma project has agreed to donate his 
services in bringing a tract of pecans into 
bearing, turning the trees over to the 
purchaser at the end of a 5-year period. 



SETTLERS in the Tule Lake division 
of the Klamath project have organ- 
ized the Tule Lake Hay Growers' Asso- 
ciation preparatory to handling next sea- 
son's crop of hay. 



f I ^HE Mini-Cassia Dairymen's Asso- 
J[ ciation, Minidoka project, has 
installed a new drying machine at its 
Burley casein plant and is shipping out 
the finished product in carload lots. 
Plans are being developed for the estab- 
lishment of a similar plant at Rupert. 



GOOD progress is being made on 
the erection by the Pecos Valley 
Alfalfa Mill Co., of Hagerman, N. Mex., 
of an alfalfa meal mill near Rupert, 
Minidoka project. The plant is expected 
to be in operation at the end of the year. 



E Cassia County Free Exhibits 
Jl. Fair was held recently at Burley, 
Minidoka project. Notable displays of 
dairy stock and products, sheep, and 
swine were presented, as well as a number 
of fine community exhibits, showing the 
wide variety and high quality of farm 
products grown in this locality. 



A SPRAY painting firm has been 
busily engaged painting old farm 
buildings on the Belle Fourche project, 
and already a much improved appearance 
is noticeable. 



THE contract was signed recently 
for developing recreational grounds 
at Belle Fourche Reservoir, and plans are 
being made to construct irrigation facili- 
ties so that plantings may be made next 
spring. 

THE Santa Fe Railroad reports that 
313 cars of household goods were 
received in the Mesilla Valley, Rio 
Grande project, during the first six 
months of 1929 compared with 119 cars 
for the same period last year. 



THE Irrigon school band, West 
Extension, Umatilla project, fur- 
nished the mu^ic for the rodeo held 
recently at Heppner, Oreg. 

161 



162 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



November, 1929 



Federal Reclamation Its Achievements and Needs 

Address before Western Section, United Stales Chamber of Commerce, Ogden, Utah, October I, 1929 

By Dr. Elwood Mead, Commissioner of Reclamation 



DURING the 27 years of its operation 
the Federal reclamation policy 
has brought into profitable use nearly 
3,000,000 acres of idle land and conserved 
the flow of a score of rivers that would 
have otherwise been wasted. It has 
made possible the founding of many 
thousands of contented and prosperous 
homes where without it there wouH be 
barren and lonesome deserts. More than 
half a million people live within the 
boundaries of its completed projects. 
A million people will live in comfort 
within the limits of those being con- 
structed. On much of this reclaimed 
area jack rabbits and coyotes would 
be the principal inhabitants if Theodore 
Roosevelt and his farseeing associates 
had not framed this beneficient act. 

The primary purpose of this legislation 
is to bring about the use of resources 
which would otherwise be untouched and 
to give to these isolated communities 
which have undertaken to subdue the 
desert, equal opportunities with those 
where Nature has been kinder and where 
large outlays for reclamation are not 
required. 

The aid thus given is not discrimina- 
tion. In no instance has it gone beyond 
what is needed to enable frugal, hard- 
working, worthy people to create homes. 
Sometimes it has not gone that far. In 



not a single instance has the Government 
usurped the place of private enterprise, 
but more than half its projects are where 
private enterprises have been salvaged. 
They needed its reserve of resources and 
continuity of purpose not possible where 
interest has to be paid on stocks and 
bonds. 

Carrying out this purpose has required 
the building of works which are among 
the greatest of their kind. The Reclama- 
tion Bureau is recognized the world over 
as a leader in advancing engineering 
knowledge and in improving irrigation 
practice. This does not mean that all 
the problems of reclamation have been 
solved. On the contrary, the economic 
and social conditions of the arid West are 
so radically different from those the orig- 
inal act was framed to meet that changes 
in legislation have not kept pace with 
them. The friends of reclamation, from 
President Hoover down, are seeking to 
ascertain what should be done to bring 
this policy into harmony with present 
economic and social requirements. In 
this effort it welcomes the attention and 
assistance of the able organization which 
to-day is considering its problems. Such 
an organization gives the right background 
for studying the problems and appreciat- 
ing the achievements of Federal reclama- 
tion and for combating the aggressive but 




Pathfinder dam, North Platte project, Nebraska-Wyoming 



| mistaken propaganda which in recent 
months has been carried on against con- 
tinuing this policy. 

ECONOMIC VALUE OF FEDERAL RECLA- 
MATION 

Before discussing the economic prob- 
lems of future reclamation I propose to 
show the great national advantages of 
this policy in the past and the imperative 
need for its continuance in the future. 

When we attempt to appraise the value 
of Federal reclamation we must consider 
the conditions of the region where it 
operates. Shown on a map, the 24 widely 
scattered areas of land irrigated from 
Federal works are only a series of dots in 
the billion acres of the 15 States. They 
are made important by what surrounds 
them. They are still more insignificant 
when compared with nearly a billion acres 
of farm land in the whole country. The 
value of Robinson Crusoe's goat was not 
measured by its size but by the overwhelm- 
ing need for a goat. So the value of the 
reclamation projects is not measured by 
their size but by the need of the States 
where they are located for irrigated land 
and irrigated crops. 

FEDERAL RECLAMATION IN ARIZONA 

The State of Arizona has two Federal 
projects. What have they done to make 
that State solvent and prosperous? For 
one thing, they have made Phoenix a 
beautiful and rich city. Its stores, its 
fine homes and costly hotels are as much 
the creation of irrigation as the orange 
groves and cotton fields watered from the 
canals of the Salt^River project. Without 
the agricultural and economic background 
which the great irrigation district gives, 
this city would be little more than a whist- 
ling station on the railroad. It is a great 
business center because it is an attractive 
i place for winter tourists, because its 
mines are kept open by the cheap food 
| supply that the irrigated farms furnish, 
and because those farms turned out 
$26,000,000 worth of products last year. 
: The wealth in land created by this one 
i project is greater than the whole cost of 
! Federal irrigation works. Certainly, so 
far as the State of Arizona is concerned, 
and so far as Arizona's influence and pros- 
perity have reacted on the Nation, Fed- 
eral reclamation has amply justified itself 
as a national policy. 



November, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



163 



WASHINGTON ALSO BENEFITS 

The State of Washington would be a 
great State without Federal reclamation, 
but it is a far greater State because of the 
Yakima project. For more than 20 years 
the Government has been carrying on a 
consistent and continuous program of 
building reservoirs to store the flood 
waters and make the whole flow of the 
Yakima River available, and then building 
works to distribute the water. To-day 
that valley is one of the greatest revenue 
producers of the Northern Pacific Rail- 
road. The immense fruit and vegetable 
warehouses that line its track at Yakima 
and other cities of the valley are evidences 
of this. But that is not all. From its 
irrigated orchards and those of smaller 
private projects this Nation had its trade 
balance increased last year by about 
$10,000,000 from the export of fruits. 
This included over $4,000,000 worth of 
apples and nearly $400,000 of pears. 
Irrigated apples from Washington are 
found in the markets of every great city 
of Europe and Asia. It is a trade that is 
growing. It does not compete with the 
orchards of the humid States of the East 
because the product is different. 

IDAHO PROFITS BY FEDERAL RECLA- 
MATION 

The Federal Government has built two 
reservoirs on Snake River in the State of 
Idaho to hold back the floods and give 
more water when the river is low. 
Before this regulation the river had little 
value in agriculture. To-day the irri- 
gated farms along that river furnish more 
freight to the Union Pacific Railroad than 
came from the whole State before the 
first reservoir was built. That develop- 
ment has not hurt the farmers of the 
Mississippi Valley. On the contrary, it 
has helped them. The alfalfa grown on 
those irrigated farms provides winter feed 
for stock which feeds in summer on the 
forest reserves and public ranges. That 
means more wool, which the Nation needs. 

It also means feeder cattle for the corn- 
fields of the Mississippi Valley. They 
provide a large amount of clover and 
alfalfa seed for which the climate of the 
East is unsuited. They produce a large 
return in sugar beets, but we import 
sugar, hence this does not lower the price 
on jsurplus commodities but, on the con- 
trary, furnishes a market for staples and 
manufactured goods for thousands of 
workers in beet fields and western sugar 
refineries. 

SHIPMENTS TO AND FROM PROJECTS 

These and other similar projects create 
a huge and growing market for products 
manufactured in eastern factories. Farm 



Carload shipments to and from railroad stations on specified Federal irrigation projects 

in 1928 



State and project 


Carloads of products 
shipped to projects 


Carloads of products 
shipped from projects 


Total 
number 


Total value 


Total 
number 


Total value 




23,604 
1,328 
302 
2,152 

13, 141 
2,840 
95 
10,739 
1,816 
7,758 

456 
90 
23,220 
398 
4,072 
3,052 
433 


$48, 097, 360 
2, 856, 700 
243, 850 
3, 225, 500 

18.747,885 
2, 126, 347 
97,700 
7, 591. 890 
1, 828, 600 
9, 997, 650 

461, 520 
178,000 
17, 152, 690 
398,000 
2,771,595 
3,114,700 
729, 375 


24,590 
3,559 
657 
5,465 

10, 104 
6,302 
391 
14,283 
1,063 
3,850 

731 
101 
13,581 
815 
4,825 
20,400 
1,885 


$45.080,990 
3,698,000 
1, 620, 950 
6, 517, 050 

27,963.910 
5, 509, 709 
424,800 
30, 139, 650 
2,218,175 
2, 218, 175 

283,173 
239,000 
15, 855, 790 
1, 614, 800 
3, 817, 880 
10,037,300 
1,055,680 








Idaho: 
Boise 












Oregon: 
Umatilla 


Vale 






Utah* Strawberry Valley 






Total 


95,496 


119,619,362 112,602 


158, 295, 632 





machinery, clothing, furniture, automo- 
biles, worth millions of dollars, are sent to 
these farms from factories where workers 
are fed from the products of eastern farms. 
Statistics are usually dreary, but they are 
sometimes illuminating. In the latter 
class are the carload shipments to and 
from railway stations on the reclamation 
projects. Through the cooperation of the 
railroads we have these for 1928 on 17 
Federal projects and I have incorporated 
them. 

These 17 projects shipped in over the 
railroads goods worth $120,000,000 and 
shipped out crops worth $158,000,000. If 
to this could be added the goods and crops 
carried in trucks the showing would be 
still more impressive. But as it is these 
lands that only yesterday were unpeopled 



deserts have a commerce that used over 
200,000 cars for the year's business. I 
wish those who advocate stopping this 
development would think what it has 
done and is doing to lower freight rates 
and give business to clothing makers and 
automobile and farm machinery compa- 
nies. 

OPPOSITION MISGUIDED 

Those who oppose Federal irrigation do 
so from a mistaken belief that it contrib- 
utes to the agricultural surplus. They 
fail to recognize that irrigation operates 
in distinct zones, that its influence on 
markets is largely confined to those zones. 
Eastern trade in irrigated products is re- 
stricted mainly to products which can not 
be grown there or can not be grown for 
the season in which they are marketed. 




Easton dam, Klttltas division, Yakima project, Washington 



164 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 




November, 1929 



Glory hole at top of spillway shaft, Owyhee dam, Owyhee project, Oregon-Idaho 



The thousands of carloads of winter let- 
tuce grown outdoors in California and 
Arizona make this vegetable cheap. All 
classes enjoy it. They could not if it had 
to be grown in eastern hothouses. 

I have referred to the fruit of Washing- 
ton which is exported from Pacific points 
to the markets of Europe, Asia, and other 
eastern lands. That helps the Nation 
and injures no one. I could give a score 
of similar examples. Dairying is a great 
and growing industry in Idaho, but its 
shipments do not compete with the farms 
of Iowa and Illinois. Six million dollars 
worth went to Los Angeles last year. In 
other words, the industrial growth of the 
arid region and our expanding commerce 
of the Pacific Ocean are creating new 
markets and new agricultural needs which 
ought to be supplied by the West. The 
West is coming to have a business and 
commerce within its borders the impor- 
tance of which is not realized by the 
Nation, and the irrigated farm is one of its 
leading factors. If these irrigated pro- 
jects were wiped out, it would make little 
or no difference in the price of the staple 
products of the Mississippi Valley, such 
as corn, wheat, oats, and hay. As Secre- 
tary Wilbur said in a recent address, one 
timely rain in that region will increase the 
yields of these products more than all that 
is grown on these little oases of agricul- 
tural wealth scattered through the great 
expanse of the arid region. But to wipe 
out these projects or stop their growth 
would be a calamity to the West that 
needs them and to the eastern factories 
which serve them. 



FOLLY TO STOP PRESENT PROGRAM 

The achievements of Federal reclama- 
tion have thus far justified the policy. 
What about the future? The answer is 
that to interrupt the careful businesslike 
development now going on would be plain 
folly. It would be catering to regional 
prejudices that will disappear as soon as 
the facts are known. The Reclamation 
Bureau is now using all its funds to com- 
plete projects planned and begun many 
years ago. It will require all the money 
coming into the fund for the next seven 
years to do this. Certainly these works 
ought to be built. No one, so far as I 
have seen, disputes this. What they 
argue against and seem to fear is a sudden 
large expansion. They do not seem to 
know that the only money which can now 
be spent is that which comes into the fund 
each year in payments for water by set- 
tlers, from oil leases and power revenues. 
The total is less than $10,000,000 a year. 
Population and the local consumption of 
irrigated products in the arid States are 
growing faster than the expansion of irri- 
gation. Corn is being shipped from the 
Mississippi Valley to feed the mules that 
cultivate the irrigated orchards of Wash- 
ington. Some of this fear of surplus grew 
out of the discussion of Boulder Dam. Its 
huge reservoir and great cost made this 
reaction natural. It is not realized that 
controlling the Colorado means the open- 
ing of mines and enlarging factories as 
well as creating farms. Five million 
people will be added to the consuming 
population of the Southwest before the 



farms watered from Boulder Dam are 
able to feed them. 

What the Nation needs is not a crippled 
reclamation policy but a more efficient 
one. Hereafter increase in the irrigated 
area must be based on the storage of 
floods. We have reached the limit of safe 
expansion from the unregulated flow of 
rivers. There is no longer any hope of 
providing water at from $50 to $100 an 
acre because reservoirs are costly. The 
large projects now being built have costs 
ranging from $100 to $160 an acre. These 
costs can only be repaid if the land is set- 
tled promptly and intensively cultivated. 
They can not be paid by land which lacks 
fertility or which requires costly treat- 
ment to be made fertile. More attention 
must be paid in the future to the quality 
of the soil. 

STATE COOPERATION ESSENTIAL 

Never since reclamation began has the 
pressure to take up new projects or to take 
over and reconstruct private projects in 
difficulty been as great as it is to-day. 
This pressure will increase with the fur- 
ther withdrawal from irrigation of private 
enterprise. This, together with the size 
and cost of the enterprises to be under- 
taken, make it of special importance that 
all factors which contribute to the sol- 
vency of reclamation and the prosperity 
of water users should be thoroughly under- 
stood and incorporated in the plans for 
future development. The thing which 
will certainly contribute to success is a 
greater measure of State responsibility 
and cooperation in the settlement of the 
land, the working out of plans for agri- 
cultural development, and securing co- 
operation in marketing and other business 
matters. Plans for the improvement and 
equipment of farms and reliable advice to 
settlers as to the cost of these are as im- 
portant as plans for engineering struc- 
I tures and for financing their cost. Thus 
far the chief aid in securing settlers and 
in developing farms has come from rail- 
roads, although there has been a grati- 
fying increase in interest and in aid from 
States and chambers of commerce in the 
past three or four years. More and more 
it is coming to be realized that solvency 
depends on a score of influences eco- 
nomic, social, and political some, of 
which are now not being made as effective 
as they might be. 

AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW NEEDED 
Certain limitations on the operations 
of the Reclamation Bureau are out of 
harmony with existing conditions. Al- 
though the bureau is carrying on a work 
from which private enterprise has practi- 
cally withdrawn because of its difficulties 
and small financial return, the bureau is 



November, 1929 



NEW EECLAMATION ERA 



165 






not allowed to charge for water anything 
above actual cost, and not allowed to 
charge that if costs are increased by acci- 
dents or mistakes. Yet it is expected to 
return to the reclamation fund all the 
money which has been spent, and it is 
held up as inefficient if this is not accom- 
plished. No business enterprise on earth 
could carry on and meet these conditions, 
and in no other country is Government 
reclamation subjected to these limita- 
tions. 

The law needs to be amended to con- 
form to the actual facts. It will be good 
policy to undertake some enterprises 
where the entire amount of money can 
not be returned and where a definite 
subsidy should be provided, and there are 
instances, like power development, where 
all the income which can be obtained 
ought to be secured. In other words, 
reclamation ought to have as its funda- 
mental principle, giving the settler a fair 
chance, but with that limit it should be 
conducted on sound business lines. 

The changes in reclamation policy 
should not include any changes in the 
engineering and construction of works 
now being carried on. During the last 
quarter of a century the Reclamation 
Bureau has built up an engineering or- i 
ganization able to plan and build works 
more economically and efficiently than . 
could be done if this work were turned 
over to the States. Besides, many of 
these works are interstate in character. 

The time has come, however, when 
serious consideration should be given to 
the question of whether the task of settle- 
ment of lands and the operation of canals 




Harper diversion dam, Vale project, Oregon 



might not wisely be transferred to local 
control as soon as construction is com- 
pleted. Good results have come from the 
policy of the bureau in transferring to the 
settlers the operation of canals as soon as 
agricultural development had gone far 
enough to make this possible. 

The most beneficial change which could 
be made, however, has to do with the 
selection and approval of new projects. 
The State is. so vitally interested in this 
that it is believed no future work should 
be undertaken until it has been thor- 




oughly investigated by the State and ap- 
proved as a sound and solvent enterprise 
by some formal action of the State au- 
thorities. Such action would postpone 
the beginning of projects, but when they 
were begun it would be with a better 
understanding of requirements, with a 
wider diffusion of interest and responsi- 
bility, and a practical certainty of more 
rapid and complete development when 
the engineering work was done. 

We are at the beginning of a new era, 
and nothing could be more wise and 
timely than the recent action of the Presi- 
dent in calling attention to the problems 
of reclamation and proposing to create a 
competent commission to study condi- 
tions and determine what should be done. 



Tampers working on Echo dam fill, Salt Lake Basin project, Utah 



Articles Contributed 

To Other Publications 

Conquering the Colorado, by Dr. 
Elwood Mead, commissioner, in Review 
of Reviews, September, 1929. 

Three Great Projects in One, by Dr. 
Elwood Mead, commissioner, in Southern 
California Business, September, 1929. 

Reclaiming Lost Land South and West, 
by Dr. Elwood Mead, commissioner, in 
National Real Estate Journal, September 
16, 1929. 

Making the American Desert Bloom, 
by Dr. Elwood Mead, commissioner, in 
Current History, October, 1929. 

American Falls Dam, Minidoka Proj- 
ect, Idaho, by Ivan E. Houk, senior 
engineer, Denver office, in Western Con- 
struction News, September 25, 1929. 



166 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



November, 182 



Federal Reclamation Strongly Indorsed in Recent Resolutions 

By Western Division, Chamber of Commerce of the United States 



E following resolutions concerning 
JL Federal reclamation, water resources, 
and the public land study, recommended 
recently by President Hoover, were 
adopted by the Western Division of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the United 
States at its meeting in Ogden, Utah, 
September 30 to October 1, 1929: 

RECLAMATION 

Whereas the achievements of Federal 
reclamation in the 27 years of its opera- 
tion have fully justified the farseeing 
statesmanship of President Theodore 
Roosevelt and his associates in securing 
the passage of this beneficent measure, 
Federal reclamation is conceived to be a 
aound national policy for reasons, in part, 
as follows: 

"(1) It has brought wasted water into 
use and dotted unpeopled deserts with 
contented and prosperous homes. More 
than half a million people now live on 
these projects, and it has been one of the 
chief factors in increasing the population 
of the Western States. 

" (2) Additional taxable assets of im- 
mense amounts have been created to the 
material advantage of State and Nation. 

"(3) Western irrigation projects pro- 
vide extensive markets for the agricul- 
tural Middle West and the industrial 
East. 

" (4) Crops produced upon western irri- 
gation projects are supplemental to, 
rather than competitive with, crops pro- 
duced upon agricultural lands of other 
sections, for the reason that the principal 
products of western irrigated lands are 
alfalfa, sugar beets, wool, and fruits, 
many of which are in demand in the 
Central and Eastern States, while most 
of the forage crops are consumed locally 
in the livestock industry. The protec- 
tion in continental United States of sugar 
and wool, two of the major products of 
Federal irrigation projects, approximate 
only 50 per cent of our total requirements. 

"(5) The situation relating to the na- 
tional defense is greatly helped by the 
substantial development of the inter- 
mountain region, comprising, as it does, 
a vast area lying between the populous 
Middle West and the Pacific coast. Fed- 
eral reclamation is playing an important 
part in attaining such development. 

"(6) All money used in Federal recla- 
mation work is provided by a revolving 
fund created by revenues accruing from 
the sale, lease, and development of the 
natural resources of the Western States. 



This fund is in the nature of a trust 
administered by the Federal Government 
for the benefit of the territory from 
which the moneys are actually derived. 
There is no draft upon the pocket of the 
taxpayer for reclamation development. 

"(7) Recommendation No. 2 of Refer- 
endum No. 52 on agriculture does not 
apply to economically sound Federal 
reclamation projects, as such projects are 
not constructed at public expense and 
do not add burdensome surpluses to 
American agricultural production. To 
the contrary, our Western States declare 
the need for a progressive program of 
reclamation development in order to meet 
the growing demand for products of the 
character which are supplemental to 
those of other sections." Now, there- 
fore, be it 

Resolved by the Western Division of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the United Slates, 
at its seventh annual division meeting, That 
we heartily indorse Federal reclamation 
in the West as a sound national policy 
and urge its continuance upon a pro- 
gressive scale. 

WATER RESOURCES 

Whereas the water resources of the 
Nation, and especially of 11 western 
States, constitute a great asset that has 
been our most neglected source of wealth; 
and 

Whereas the President of these United 
States has declared for a broad national 
policy that should coordinate the con- 
struction forces of all our poeple in a 
sound, economic program work: Now, 
therefore, be it 

Resolved, That this convention of the 
Western Division of the Chamber of 
Commerce of the United States of 
America declare its profound approval 
of such a program in the form that con- 
ference may determine most effective; 
and be it further 

Resolved, That this conference recom- 
mend to the Chamber of Commerce of 
the United States that the national organi- 
zation of business force accept the 
principle as a major activity and the 
proper machinery be set in motion to 
bring the combined strength of America's 
business to the cause; and be it further 

Resolved, That this convention urges 
upon all western States such organized 
efforts as will result in the people of the 
whole West joining their economic and 
political energies in the proper execution 
of a national plan for development of 
latent water resources. 



PUBLIC-LAND STUDY 

The Western Division of the Chamber 
of Commerce of the United States in its 
deliberation at the mid-year meeting held 
at Ogden, Utah, September 30 and October 
1, wishes to record its appreciation of the 
recent declaration and suggestion which 
has come from President Hoover, involv- 
ing the appointment of a committee of 9 
or 10, 5 of which shall be selected from the 
western public land States, for the purpose 
of making a study relative to the public 
domain, construction of flood-control 
dams, and reclamation, and voice our 
opinion as being in accord with the action 
as proposed by the President of the United 
States. 



By Western Governors 

The following resolution concerning 
Federal reclamation was adopted by the 
Conference of Governors and Representa- 
tives of Public Land States, held in Salt 
Lake City, Utah, August 26 and 27, 1929: 

Whereas there is much misunderstand- 
ing throughout the country with regard to 
the purpose and results of Federal recla- 
mation, resulting in opposition to the ex- 
pansion or continuance of the policy of 
Federal reclamation: Therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Conference of Gov- 
ernors and Representatives of Public Land 
States, held at Salt Lake City August 26 
and 27, 1929, submits the following state- 
ment of facts with regard to Federal 
reclamation: 

The development of the West would 
have been impossible except for irrigation. 
If the West had not been developed, add- 
ing its billions in new wealth and providing 
opportunities for millions in new popula- 
tion, the growth and prosperity of the 
Nation would have been retarded and its 
present position in wealth, prestige, and 
power would not have been possible. 
Therefore, irrigation development has 
been a matter of national concern. 

Reclamation by the Federal Govern- 
ment has heretofore been an important 
although minor factor in western develop- 
ment, but in the future should play a major 
part. Practically all of the enterprises 
within the financial ability of private capi- 
tal have been developed. Those great 
irrigable areas now remaining, by reason 
of the larger problems involved, greater 
costs of storage, canal construction, settle- 
ment, etc., should be classed as govern- 
mental enterprises. If the development 
of the West, and to this extent the full 



November, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



167 



development of the Nation, is to be realized 
the policy of Federal reclamation must be 
continued. The real effort should be to 
get as much land as possible into continu- 
ous and profitable use. 

The absurdity of the claim that western 
reclamation is harmful to the general wel- 
fare and is responsible in any substantial 
way for surpluses of the cereal farm prod- 
ucts of the Nation is shown by the follow- 
ing facts: The principal products of west- 
ern irrigated lands are alfalfa, sugar beets ( 
potatoes, and fruits. No one familiar 
with the meat production of the United 
States but realizes that the alfalfa of the 
West has resulted in the maintenance of 
vast flocks and herds furnishing a pure and 
relatively cheap meat supply to the labor, 
ers and artisans of the East; the sugar 
beets of the West do not displace sugar 
beets in any other part of the country, and 
furnish cheaper sugar; the potatoes of the 
West move to eastern markets only when 
there is a shortage in eastern production; 
the fruits of the West are the results of the 
greatest of all irrigated farm activities and 
a wonderful source of wealth, and do not 
displace fruit of corresponding quality any- 
where in the United States, but do furnish 
the best of fruit to the farmers and people 
of the Middle West. 

The use of the reclamation revolving 
fund is not a subsidy, but on the contrary 
is only fair and just, for the reason that 
this fund is a loan of only part of the in- 
come from the natural resources of the 
Western States. Appropriations made by 
Congress for western reclamation are 
made from this special fund obtained from 
western resources, and not from the pock- 
ets of the taxpayers. 

The progressive nations of the world, 
notably England, France, Italy, Holland 
(and Germany prior to the Great War), 
gave scope to the ingenuity and energy of 
their people in the development of exten- 
sive colonies as a sound national policy 
and without thought of repayment of the 
outlay. The United States, owing to its 
vast resources, has been able to pursue a 
different policy in this, that it has en- 
couraged its people to develop these 
great natural resources. If our Nation is 
not to retrogress, this policy must be con- 
tinued. 

K SPORTS from the Shoshone project 
regarding maximum returns from 
potatoes and beans indicate the possi- 
bilities of intensive agriculture there. 
One potato grower received returns of 
over $400 per acre from a field of about 
20 acres of Netted Gems. The returns 
from some of the best bean crops were 
$200 per acre, net. 



Yuma Project Offers Opportunity 
to Expand Dairy Industry 



\ RECENT issue of the Arizona Pro- 
jL\. ducer tells the story of H. L. Kryger, 
an ex-service man on the Yuma project, 
Arizona-California, who started four years 
ago with very little capital and to-day is 
one of the leading dairymen on the 
project. 

Mr. Kryger is a descendant of a Dutch 
family that milked cows and made butter 
and cheese for generations, so that he is 
by birth and instinct and training and 
preference a dairyman. He has demon- 
strated that on the Yuma project cows 
plus science plus hard work constitute a 
winning combination. 

Keeping of rather elaborate records 
Mr. Kryger has found serves another pur- 
pose aside from enabling him to check the 
performance of each cow. It aids in 
keeping his employees interested and 
satisfied. He has to hire several men to 
care for his herd of 50 of the finest grade 
Holsteins in Arizona. Milkers have fa- 
vorite cows that they like to champion. 
Friendly arguments are continually aris- 
ing that can be settled only by reference 
to the figures. All of which tends to pre- 
vent life falling into a monotonous rut. 

Up to the first of this year Mr. Kryger 
bought all his feed. Now he has 60 acres 
of land rented and is making it produce 
plenty of hay and pasturage for his entire 
herd. For this he has Sudan grass to 
thank in large measure. He planted a 
large patch in the spring and now his dry 
cows and his young stuff are turned in 
there to pasture. They are fed nothing 
else whatever, yet they have steadily 
thrived and put on flesh. 

Sudan grass grows and flourishes in the 
Yuma Valley the year around, except for 
the three winter months. It is Mr. Kry- 
ger's plan to have green wheat pasturage 
ready for his stock then. In late fall he 
disks wheat right into his alfalfa, irri- 
gating it frequently, and will have lush 
pasturage up to the time Sudan grass is 
ready again in March. Mr. Kryger pre- 
fers wheat to barley because the latter 
tends to give milk an unpleasant flavor. 
For nine months of the year he mows and 
stores all the alfalfa hay his fields will 
yield. That is the main feed for his milk- 
ing cows. It is fed whole, but he is giving 
serious thought to choppers and grinders. 

Mr. Kryger states that the dairy situa- 
tion in Yuma Valley is unique and seems 
to provide a genuine opportunity for 



expansion. Altogether the number of 
dairy cows in the valley is not over 1,000. 
The main reason for this is that California 
buyers have combed the district again and 
again for cows and have shipped to the 
coast all they could possibly purchase. As 
a result barely enough whole milk is pro- 
duced to supply the local demand. No 
butter is made in Yuma Valley except 
perhaps an insignificant amount for family 
use. No ice cream is manufactured there. 
The one creamery imports unfrozen ice 
cream, ready mixed, from Imperial Valley 
and freezes it for the wholesale trade. 

There is no prospect that there will 
soon be any milk to spare for ice cream or 
butter or cheese. Yuma and the other 
towns are growing steadily, and so far the 
demand for whole milk is increasing more 
rapidly than the supply. Mr. Kryger is 
convinced that this fall will show a real 
shortage, stating that "we dairymen 
simply must produce more milk or the 
community will be forced to import it 
from somewhere outside." 

R. M. Priest, superintendent of the 
Yuma project, adds that "this is an in- 
dustry that I would like to see developed 
here, as conditions are ideal for it." 



Desert Grapefruit Under 
New Organization 

The Desert Citrus Exchange, with 
headquarters at El Centro, Calif., has 
been formed by growers in California and 
Arizona affiliated with the California 
Fruit Growers Exchange. The new asso- 
ciation plans to make a specialty of 
marketing the grapefruit produced in the 
desert sections of the Southwest. 
Although the membership is now made up 
of citrus associations in the Imperial and 
Yuma Valleys, opportunity will be given 
to citrus growers in the Coachella Valley 
of California and the Salt River Valley of 
Arizona to join the new organization. 
Officials of the new exchange estimate that 
with normal crop conditions the associa- 
tion will market from 700 to 800 cars of 
grapefruit in the 1929-30 season. As 
most of the trees are very young, the 
quantity of fruit will naturally increase 
from year to year. 



168 



RECLAMATION ERA 



November, 1929 




Reclamation Project Women and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Club Activities of Juniors on Federal Reclamation Projects 



THESE activities on the Uncom- 
pahgre project, Colorado, and the 
Shoshone project, Wyoming, were stated 
in the September and October issues, re- 
spectively, of the NEW RECLAMATION 
ERA. 

Practically all of our projects have 
organizations for juniors, and facts se- 
cured from the projects will be printed, 
to stimulate their activities, in consecu- 
tive issues until all have been treated. 

Yuma Project Arizona-California 

There are eighteen 4-H National Girls' 
Clubs, each with its adult leader, under 
the supervision of the home demonstration 
agent. These clubs are located on or 
adjacent to the project. The project and 
adjoining territory is divided into what 
is termed nine commu'nities, which are in 
reality school districts, the names of 
which are Gadsden, Alameda, Fairview, 
Sunnyside, Rood, Crane, Wellton, Roll, 
and Laguna. 

There is a 4-H Health Club in each of 
the above districts, 4-H Sewing Clubs in 
Gadsden, Alameda, Rood, Crane, Well- 
ton, Roll, and Laguna, and 4-H Food 
Clubs at Gadsden and Crane. The total 
active membership of the above clubs is 
137, all of which completed the club work 




4-H Health Club group, Gadsden Sunshine Club. 
Luclle Smith, winner, Indicated by arrow 



and received pins for the season of 
October, 1928, to June, 1929. 

The organization has been active to 
some extent for the past seven or eight 
years, but has only reached its present 
proportions during the last two or three 
years. 

The clubs are organized in the regular 
manner, and conduct their meetings at 
intervals decided upon by each club, 
which vary from one each week to two a 
month. Each club holds an achievement 
day at the close of the club year, when 
the work of each member is judged and 
blue, red, and white ribbons are awarded 
by the University of Arizona Extension 
Service. Each child who completes the 
required club work receives a 4-H Club 
pin which has the national emblem on it. 

A County Club Day completes each 
year's work in which all the clubs join in 
an exhibit of work accomplished and 
have a joint club picnic. Last year at 
the close of the 1927-28 club year the 
work the sewing and cooking clubs had 
accomplished during the club year was 
placed on display in a show window of 
one of the local merchants. This display 
attracted quite a little attention and 
many favorable comments. The girls 
take a keen interest in their club work, 
and the various clubs vie with each other 
in the quality of their work and in the 
number of achievements. 

Rewards of special merit have been 
won by Yuma County Club girls in the 
nature of free trips to the University of 
Arizona, at Tucson, for Boys' and Girls' 
Club camp. This year two girls were 
awarded this trip; and one of the two 
girls, Lucille Smith, who is denoted by 
an arrow in the picture, won second place 
in the Girls' State Health Center contest, 
with an average score of 96.3 per cent. 
Last year another girl, Vida Benton, who 
is a member of the Willing Workers' 
Club of the Crane community, was one 
of four girls selected as a reward of special 
merit to represent the State of Arizona at 
the National Club Congress held at 
Washington, D. C., during June, 1928. 

There is only one 4-H Boys' Club on 
the project. This club is composed of 18 
members, all being sons of project ranch- 
ers, and an adult leader. Their work is 
under the supervision of Mr. O. P. Thorn- 



ton, the county agent stationed at Yuma. 
This club is known as a Boys' Cotton 
Club and deals entirely with the success- 
ful raising of cotton, which is one of the 
major crops on this project. 

Last year the various cotton-ginning 
associations and several prominent ranch- 
ers contributed $110 toward prizes to be 
awarded to the successful contestants in 
the club. The first prize of $40 was 
awarded to Forest Blue, whose score was 
88 points. This boy grew 5 full bales of 
cotton on his 2-acre piece of ground. 
(See picture of Forest Blue with his 5 
bales of cotton.) 

These boys are required to have 2 
acres of land upon which they may grow 
cotton. They usually lease this land 
from their parents or have it donated to 
them. Each boy then plows his ground 
and prepares it for planting. He then 
plants the 2 acres to cotton and does all 
the cultivating and irrigating. The time 
he is employed in this work is charged 




Forest Blue and the five bales of cotton he raised on 
two acres 



November, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



169 



out at 25 cents pier hour, and if his parents 
assist him their time is charged at 35 
cents per hour. His costs must also 
include specified rentals for the stock and 
equipment he uses. At the completion 
of the year each boy is required to write 
a story of the methods employed by him 
and a description of the results obtained, 
together with all costs and his gross and 
net profit. The results at the close of 
the year are graded by the following 
system: Report and story, 40 points; 
yield, 25 points; profit, 20 points; attend- 
ance at club meetings and tours, 15 points. 

Forest Blue's story of how he grew his 
cotton, which he submitted in accordance 
with requirements of the club, appears at 
the end of this story on club work on the 
Yuma project. 

This club has regular meetings once 
each month and twice during the year 
makes a tour of the various members' 
fields where a study is made of the methods 
employed and the condition of the plants. 
In addition, they also visit the fields of 
the most successful cotton growers on the 
project, and these men analyze their 
methods and answer all inquiries. (See 
illustration.) These tours are generally 
ended at Haughtelin Lake, where a picnic 
dinner and swim are enjoyed. 

How I Grew my Cotton 

By Forest Blue 
(Submitted in connection with his 4-H Club work) 

I joined the cotton club to learn all I 
could about cotton growing. I think this 
club will be a help to me as a future 
farmer. 

My land is a sandy loam. It is a good 
type of land for cotton growing. It is one 
of the best pieces of cotton land in the 
valley. I did not have much to do to my 
land because it was in the best of shape 
already. To get rid of the cotton stalks 
is all I had to do to the land. After I had 
plowed up the stalks I raked and burned 
them. I think it is best to burn the 
stalks because if you do not a good level 
and firm seed bed can not be made. After 
this was done I watered the land good and 
heavy. I let the ground get good and dry, 
and on March 1 I listed up my seed beds 
with a tractor lister. 

The beds were made 12 inches high and 
4 feet wide from one furrow to the other. 
I think a well-prepared seed bed is a very 
good thing to raise good cotton. After the 
beds are made a single stalk furrow opener 
is used to run out the furrows a day or two 
before the irrigation. Then the ends of 
each furrow are shoveled out so that the 
water can run out and turn back. Both 




4-H Club members visiting farm of a successful cotton grower to observe methods employed 



ends of furrows are shoveled out. I gave 
the beds a good irrigation, keeping the 
water on for six hours. Six hours is about 
the average. I let the beds dry out for 10 
days; then I knocked off the ridges with 
a spike-toothed harrow, the teeth being 
straight, running lengthwise of the row. 
This left the ridges about 8 inches high. 

This harrowing was done to knock off 
the dry dirt that was on top of the beds. 
Then I planted pure Mebane seed, using 
a single-row riding planter. I planted on 
March 15. The seed was planted about 2 
inches deep. I went over the field with 
a hoe and planted seed where the planter 
could not. My cotton began to come up 
on Match 22. I had a good stand of 
cotton by April 10. My first cultivation 
was on April 10, when my cotton came to 
a good stand. For my first cultivation I 
used small shovel plows. This cultiva- 
tion was to kill weeds and to loosen up the 
ground. I started thinning my cotton 
on April 16 and finished on April 19. I 
thinned my cotton to 9 inches the first 
thinning. On April 25 I cultivated my 
cotton again. This was done just 15 days 
after first cultivation. This time I used 
large twisting shovels to throw the dirt 
up to the plants. The furrows were then 
run out and the ends of the furrows were 
shoveled out. Then I irrigated on April 
30. This was just a light irrigation. 

The water was held on the land for two 
hours. This first irrigation was 45 days 
after my cotton was planted, practically 
3 inches of water being used per acre. I 
let the water run slowly so the beds would 
get good and wet. This sort of irrigation 
is better than a fast irrigation. 

On May 11, eleven days after irrigation, 
I cultivated my cotton again. This was 
the third cultivation. I used small 
shovels to loosen the soil and to kill 



weeds. Beginning May 21 and ending 
May 30, I rethinned my cotton. This 
time I took out every other stalk. This 
time I studied each plant so as to leave the 
best plants. I only left one stalk to the 
hill. This is the best, because each plant 
can get all the required plant food to make 
a good strong healthy plant. 

My cotton is now thinned to 18 inches. 
On June 4 I irrigated my cotton the second 
time after planting. This time I did not 
run out the furrows. I wanted to see if it 
made much difference. It made a little 
difference, not much. On June 12, eight 
days after irrigation, I cultivated my 
cotton the third time, using large shovels. 
This was next to the hist cultivation. On 
June 22 I gave my cotton a heavy irrga- 
tion, keeping the water on for three hours. 
I cultivated my cotton the last time on 
July 4. My cotton was 111 days old. I 
irrigated my cotton the fourth time on 
July 9 this was a light irrigation, because 
it was too hot to give the cotton much 
water and then my last irrigation was 
July 22. This was a light irrigation. 

I began picking my cotton on Septem- 
ber 3. I picked out 3 bales the first 
picking and sold them at 18.55 cents per 
pound, and I picked 2 bales the second 
picking and sold them for 19.25 cents per 
pound. My expenses amounted to about 
S50, including picking and labor charges. 
My net profit was $190. I did most of the 
work myself. I wasn't bothered with any 
kind of pest or disease. 

There were 18 members in our cotton 
club when it started. We visited the 
different boys' fields and had some inter- 
esting talks from men who knew cotton. 
We made two trips during the summer. 

The object of club work is to show boys 
how they can make more money out of 
cotton, by knowing how to grow cotton. 



170 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



November, 1929 



Boulder Dam Power Conference and Allocation of Power 



OECRETARY WILBUR states that a 
ij number of requests for power to be 
generated at Boulder Dam have been 
received at the Department of the 
Interior, and that those requests insured 
such a demand for power as to more than 
consume all that would be generated, and 
insure repayment of the cost of the dam 
as contemplated in the law. 

The principal applicants for this power 
came to Washington on October 14 to dis- 
cuss with the officials of the department 
definite arrangements for the production 
and distribution of this power. L. N. 
McClellan, chief electrical engineer for the 
Reclamation Bureau, with headquarters 
in Denver, also was present at the meet- 
ing, as well as Prof. W. F. Durand, of 
Stanford, consulting engineer for the bu- 
reau. The Secretary asked those partici- 
pating to be prepared to discuss the tech- 
nical, legal, and financial aspects of the 
problem of handling this power. 

The applicants for large amounts of 
power are city of Los Angeles metropoli- 
tan water district, Southern California 
Edison Co., Southern Sierras Power Co., 
and the States of Nevada and Utah. 

"What we want to do," said Secretary 
Wilbur "is to sell falling water. There 
are several alternative plans. The one 
which seems to fit the conditions best is 
to have the Government build the dam 
and power houses and to arrange with the 
lessees to install the machinery to produce 
and distribute the power. This will place 
the technical problems of generation and 
transmission of power in the hands of the 
purchasers. Since a number of them are 
involved, it becomes obvious that they 
should work together in accordance with 
some agreed-upon plan. 

"From the standpoints of efficiency 
and common sense this is a unit under- 
taking, and cooperation will be necessary 
in its execution. Provision needs to be 
made for certain applicants with small re- 
quirements of power. There are so many 
details to be worked out that a prelimi- 
nary conference to determine upon certain 
principles of action is requisite before 
allotments of power can wisely be made." 

The Secretary of the Interior announced 
on October 21, his decision in regard to 
the allocation of Boulder Dam power. 
He appointed November 12, as the date 
for a formal hearing in case of any 
protest. 

The power to be developed at the 
Boulder Dam subject to certain deduc- 
tions is to be contracted for as follows: 

To the Metropolitan Water District of 
Southern California, 50 per cent, or so 
much thereof as may be needed and used 
for the pumping of Colorado River water. 



To the city of Los Angeles, 25 per cent; 
and 

To the Southern California Edison and 
associated companies, 25 per cent. 

These allotments are to be subject to cer- 
tain deductions which may arise through 
the exercise of preference rights, i. e. : 

(a) Not exceeding 18 per cent of the 
total power developed for the State of 
Nevada for use in Nevada; 

(6) Not exceeding 18 per cent of the 
total power for the State of Arizona for 
use in Arizona, as above, and should 
either of the States not exercise its pref- 
erence lights the other may absorb them 
up to 4 per cent; 

(c) Not exceeding 4 per cent for munici- 
palities which have heretofore filed appli- 
cations. 

All such preference rights in whole or in 
part are to be exercised by the execution 
of valid contracts with the respective 
States and municipalities satisfactory to 
the Secretary and the exercise of such 
preference rights is to reduce propor- 
tionately the above allotments to the 
district, the city, and the company. 

Any State desiring to withdraw power 
within the limitations above stated must 
serve on the Secretary of the Interior 
written notice within not less than 12 
months of the amount of power desired 
and for the purchase of which valid con- 
tracts satisfactory to the Secretary must 
be executed. 

Power contracted for but not required 
within a State shall be allocated to the 
city and the company on a 50-50 basis, 
with the reservation that it can again be 
called for within a reasonable time for use 
within the State. All power provided a 
State shall be at actual cost. 

Should the 50 per cent allocated to the 
Metropolitan Water District be not 
required for pumping, this shall become 
available to the city of Los Angeles, 66% 
per cent; to the Southern California Edison 
and associated companies, 33J4 per cent. 

Any municipalities desiring power with- 
in the limitation prescribed must execute 
the necessary contract therefor within 12 
months from the date the contracts are 
made with the district and the city. 

Any firm power available at the Boulder 
Canyon Dam for the payment of which 
other contractors do not become and 
remain liable, aside from that allocated 
to the Metropolitan District, shall be 
taken and paid for by the city of Los 
Angeles and the Edison Company on a 
50-50 basis. 

The contract for the available power 
is to be made with the city of Los Angeles 
and the Metropolitan Water District, 
with various subcontracts assuring the 



above and providing for a board of 
control made up of two members nomi- 
nated by the city of Los Angeles and the 
Metropolitan Water District, two by the 
Southern California Edison and associated 
companies, and one by the Secretary of 
the Interior to act with the city of Los 
Angeles in the operation of the plant. 

The Federal Government will install 
the dam, tunnels, power house, and pen- 
stocks. The machinery for the genera- 
tion and distribution of power is to be 
provided and installed by the lessee. The 
costs of installation and operation are to 
be borne by those contracting for the 
power in proportion to the amounts 
received. When the dam and power house 
are actually in operation, the lessees may 
have the right to ask for a review of the 
actual cost of units of power and be 
entitled to deductions which will still 
permit the charge made to return to the 
Government all advances and interest in 
accordance with the Boulder Dam act, 
and provided further that if such review 
indicates that a higher rate should be paid 
for power to meet the obligation to the 
Federal Government such an advance in 
rate will be put into effect. 

There be a clause inserted in all of 
the contracts which will insure the dis- 
tribution of all power developed at the 
Boulder Dam at such a price as in the 
opinion of the Federal Power Commission 
is fair to all consumers. Should certain 
municipalities operating their own power 
plants desire to make separate agreements 
with the city of Los Angeles and the 
Metropolitan Water District, they shall 
be supplied with power at cost price. 

The charge for storing water for the 
Metropolitan Water District will be 25 
cents per acre-foot. 



Marathon Dam, Greece, 
Mosaic Marble-Faced 

" A recent issue of commerce reports 
states that the works now being built at 
Marathon, Greece, include the construc- 
tion of a dam near the village of Marathon, 
to impound the waters of the Haradra 
and Varnava Rivers, together with a 
tunnel, aqueduct, reservoirs, and distribu- 
tion system. The dam is a solid concrete 
wall 47 meters wide at the base and 4% 
meters on top. It is 285 meters long and 
rises 54 meters above the river bed. ( -i 
This dam is stated to be the only mosaic 
marble-faced dam in the world. The 
structure will contain 178,000 cubic 
meters of concrete and masonry, requiring 
40,000 tons of Portland cement and 10,000 
tons of Santorin earth (Pozzulan cement). 



November, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



171 



International Water Commission Meets in Washington, D. C. 

To discuss the equitable division of the waters of the Rio Grande, Colorado, and Tia Juana Rieers 



THE International Water Commis- 
sion for the study of the respective 
rights of the United States and Mexico 
in the flow of international streams re- 
convened in Washington, D. C., at the 
Pan American Building, on October 22. 

This commission consists of three 
members, all engineers, from each of the 
interested countries. It met in Mexico 
City on August 20 last and was in session 
for three weeks. It was appointed by 
the two countries to work out an equitable 
division of the waters of the Rio Grande, 
Colorado, and Tia Juana Rivers, streams 
which flow on both sides of the inter- 
national boundary. It is only within the 
last 10 or 15 years that the overshadow- 
ing importance of these water supplies to 
the people of the two countries has begun 
to be realized. 



The Tia Juana River, for example, has 
tributaries on both sides of the boundary. 
It begins south of the line and empties 
into the Pacific Ocean about 2 miles 
north of it. During the Spanish occupa- 
tion of Mexico it was valuable only as a 
watering place for the long-horned herds 
of cattle that ranged on both sides of the 
boundary. To-day it is doubtful if there 
is anywhere a water supply where an 
acre-foot has greater value. This value 
has developed because the location of the 
stream in the vicinity of San Diego, Calif., 
where the climate is attractive but the 
water scarce, presents great possibilities. 
The river is now looked to by San Diego 
as a means of reinforcing its water supply. 

To hold and make available the waters 
of one tributary of the Tia Juana River, 
the Mexican Government is spending 



$3,500,000 on a dam and reservoir. 
The United States is prepared to spend 
whatever money is required to conserve 
the entire surplus water in a reservoir 
located on the international boundary. 

The waters of the mighty Rio Grande 
are of much greater importance. On the 
American side the progressive efforts and 
skill of irrigators in southwestern Texas 
since 1890 have converted 560,095 acres 
into continuous market gardens inter- 
spersed with orange and grapefruit 
orchards. The crops are about one-half 
cotton, one-fourth truck, one-eighth citrus, 
and the balance miscellaneous. There 
are about 145 separate irrigation enter- 
prises now operating, and almost all take 
their water by pumping. The total 
diversion is estimated at 856,000 acre-feet 
in 1928. The total value of existing ir- 




INTERNATIONAL WATER COMMISSION: UNITED STATES AND MEXICO 

Left to right, sitting: General Lansing H. Beach; Dr. Elwood Mead, chairman, American section; Miss Mae A. Schnurr, secretary, American section; Sr. Fortunate 
Dozal, chairman, Mexican section; Sr. Gustavo P. Serrano. Standing; Sr. Ignacio Lopez Bancalari; Mr. W. E. Anderson; Sr. Federico Ramos, secretary, 
Mesiean section. 



172 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



November, 1929 



rigation works is about $20,000,000. 
This has stimulated development on the 
south side of the boundary in Mexico, 
which, though smaller, is making great 
strides, because it has the active support 
of the Mexican Government, which is 
building a costly dam and irrigation work 
at Don Martin, on the Salado River, and 
projecting other equally important works 
on the Conchos and San Juan Rivers, 
tributaries of the Rio Grande. 

There are 291,000 acres of land now 
being irrigated in Mexico. Private devel- 
opment has now reached a point where 
the entire low-water flow of the unregu- 
lated river is required. The extension of 
the area, without injury to what is being 
already cultivated, requires the building 
of two or more large storage dams in the 
channel of the main stream. One of the 
problems which confronted this commis- 
sion was to work out the plans and pro- 
gram for the building of these works as 
international enterprises. When it has 
reached an agreement its recommenda- 
tions will be submitted to the State 
Departments of the two countries, to be 
used as the basis for negotiation of a 
treaty. Its importance is seen by the 
fact that last year 4,000,000 acre-feet of 
flood water ran to waste, the total river 
yield of the Rio Grande Basin being 
7,757,000 acre-feet. Forty-eight per cent 
of this comes from the United States and 
52 per cent from Mexico. The effective 
drainage area of the Rio Grande is 177,500 
square miles, of which 54.8 per cent lies 
in the United States and 45.2 per cent in 
Mexico. If the waste water were stored 
it would be sufficient to irrigate a million 
acres of land on each side of the boundary, 
and that would mean a comfortable living 
for 2,000,000 people. 

On the Colorado the commission con- 
fronts these conditions: Two hundred and 
forty-two thousand square miles of the 
watershed of the Colorado are in the 
United States. Two thousand square 
miles are in Mexico. Mexico contributes 
nothing to the water of the stream. It 
all comes from the United 'States. Ap- 
proximately 100 miles of the river channel 
are in Mexico. This traverses the delta 
which has been built up in ages past by 
the silt deposited by the Colorado. 
Before irrigation began, the river in flood 
wandered all over the delta, without any 
defined channel, or with a channel likely 
to be changed by each successive flood. 
Since irrigation began in Imperial Valley 
the irrigators there have sought by means 
of levees to keep the river within bounds, 
or at least to keep it from breaking over 
and flooding the irrigated farms. The 
difficulty of doing this grows out of the 
fact that where formerly the silt carried 
down by the river was spread over a large 



territory each year, the levees keep it 
confined to a narrow strip which is being 
built up at an accelerated rate, and the 
rise in the level of the channel of the river 
makes it necessary to keep raising the 
levees. 

It is evident that this can not continue 
much longer, and it is the conviction that 
levees are not a solution of the permanent 
protection of these lands that led to the 
movement to control floods by building 
a reservoir in the main stream large enough 
to hold at least one year's flow of the river. 
That was the origin of Boulder Dam. 
Without it the inundation of the lands 



between the United States and Mexico, 
within a brief period, was almost inevit- 
able. Building Boulder Dam, therefore, 
is of as great benefit to Mexico as it is 
to the Imperial Valley. 

The commission therefore is confronted 
with the questions of the proper division 
of the water and some arrangement for 
the control of floods between now and the 
time when Boulder Dam is far enough 
advanced to regulate them. An outlet 
channel to the Gulf for whatever surplus 
waters flow down beyond the United 
States after Boulder Dam is completed 
must be provided. 



Aided and Directed Settlement in Ceylon 



ACCORDING to a recent issue of the 
Christian Science Monitor, the leas- 
ing out of blocks from 5 to 25 acres, 
partly with a permanent crop, probably 
coconut, partly with yams and other 
short-life crops, as a means of providing 
employment for the middle classes in the 
country districts of Ceylon, has been 
arranged by the Forest Department. 
The land released for the purposes is low- 
lying jungle land in the Kalutara district. 

The growing of gingilli, chillies, mus- 
tard, and other condiments, and of papaya 
and plaintain will be encouraged. In the 
larger allotments principal attention will 
be given to the growing of lucerne and 
fodder grasses. 

The Department of Agriculture hopes 
to supply the required stock of superior 
quality and to supervise rearing condi- 
tions in all stages of growth and market- 
ing. 

Middle-class farm settlers will be given 
lessons in the most modern methods of 



poultry farming adapted to local condi- 
tions. Literature and instruction will also 
be available on such subjects as the pres- 
ervation of products of milk, butter, and 
cheese. Cottage industries, suitable for 
women and children, will have the neces- 
sary attention at the rural agricultural 
school of each colony. 

It is expected to draw 10 per cent of 
the return in cash or kind of all allotments, 
which yield beyond a certain measure, as 
an interest upon the stocks and seed sup- 
plied free of cost by the Department of 
Agriculture. When necessary, the taxed 
produce will be sold at the market of the 
colony and a reserve fund created for the 
establishment of a crop and stox;k insur- 
ance scheme, which will be run in con- 
junction with a cooperative credit society. 

In the manner described above, it is 
hoped to establish, in the healthier parts 
of the island, self-contained colonies of 
middle-class folk who would otherwise be 
unemployed. 



APPLES GROWN ON RECLAMATION PROJECTS IN 1928 



Project 


Area 


Yield 


Value 


Total 


Average 
per acre 


Total 


Per acre 


Orland Calif 


Acres 
6 
1,407 
2,409 


Pounds 
17,500 
4, 430, 9fiO 
12, 194, 035 
462, 516 
265,500 


J'ourtdi 
2.91B 
3, 149 
5,062 
2,988 
3,087 


$438 
44,310 
170, 854 
4,625 
3,771 
8,082 
6,138 
12, 966 
1,067,404 
3, 463, 004 
2,281 


$73.00 
31.49 
70.92 
29.88 
43.72 
64.65 
20.60 
57. 33 
315.00 
221. 17 
41.66 






King Hill Idaho . . 


155 
86 
125 
298 
226 
3,388 
15, 657 
55 




Rio Grande, N. Mex -Tex 


Umatilln, Oreg 


677, 450 
1, 555, 860 
' 70, 000, 000 
239, 094, 854 
228, 105 


2,273 

6.884 
20,000 
15, 278 
4,165 


Strawberry Valley, Utah . 






Shoshone, Wyo . 




23,812 


328, 926, 880 


13, 814 


4, "83, 873 


200.90 





i 1,403,367 boxes. 



November, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION EEA 



173 



Control of Grasshoppers by use of Poisoned Bran Mash and Egg Bed 

Cultivation 



By C. A. Henderson, Extension Agent, Klamath Project, Oregon-California 



GRASSHOPPERS have long been 
known as a plague in unsettled dis- 
tricts containing large bodies of fertile but 
nontilled land. This condition has been 
particularly pronounced in the reclaimed 
lake bed of Tule Lake, extending from 
the southern part of Klamath County, 
Oreg., into Modoc and Siskiyou Counties, 
Calif. This lake bed was reclaimed for 
agricultural purposes, the process of dry- 
ing up taking less time than calculated, 
leaving exposed thousands of acres of 
productive organic soil. This was leased 
in large bodies to stockmen, resulting in 
little or no cultivation. 

Conditions were so favorable that this 
district immediately became the home of 
a heavy grasshopper infestation that grew 
and multiplied from year to year. Efforts 
at poisoning were undertaken annually 
with a combination of poison bran mash 
and burning. Residents in that district 
just about held their own until 1928, when 
the pest became so damaging that it was 
realized that different plans must be 
adopted for extermination. It was de- 
cided to discontinue all burning opera- 
tions, center activities mainly on poison- 
ing, and to supplement this with cultiva- 
tion of egg beds. 

A complete survey was made of the 
district during the fall of 1927 and a small 
amount of egg-bed cultivation undertaken 
that winter and in the spring of 1928. 
This resulted in considerable saving and 
demonstrated the feasibility of this 
method. A close check was kept upon 
time of hatching, and as soon as the young 
hoppers appeared on the beds poisoning 
started in earnest, using the following 
mixture: 60 pounds of bran, 6 pounds of 
commercial white arsenic, 2 ounces of 
amyl acetate, 30 pounds of fine sawdust, 
\% gallons of stock molasses, and 12 to 15 
gallons of water. 

The quantity of water was changeable, 
sufficient being used to give the right 
water content to the mash. A mixing 
machine was constructed, with a capacity 
of 30,000 pounds of mash daily. This 
machine was somewhat on the order of a 
concrete mixer, except that it was con- 
structed of wood and did not contain an 
internal agitator. Dimensions of the 
mixing box were 38 by 36 by 40 inches 
and it was operated at the rate of 36 to 40 
revolutions per minute. The bran, saw- 
dust, and arsenic were thoroughly mixed 
dry for a 2-minute period. The water, mo- 
lasses, and amyl acetate were mixed to- 
gether and added to the dry mixture in the 



machine and revolved for an additional 
three minutes. Double the amount of 
the above formula was the capacity of the 
machine. A 42-inch wooden pulley on 
the mixer, with a 5-inch pulley on a 
3-horsepower gasoline motor gave the 
right speed to the machine. Hand mix- 
ing has been used in several isolated dis- 
tricts, but it was found to be much less 
effective than that mixed by a machine. 

The mixing plant was located in the 
center of the infested district and poison- 
ing crews were put to work spreading 
poison daily under the direction of com- 
petent field men. Egg beds were desig- 
nated by number, with a record kept of 
the date of the last poisoning. Egg beds 
were poisoned at regular intervals in 
order to kill the young hoppers constantly 
hatching. 

The habits of the grasshoppers were 
observed daily by the field men and orders 
given to the poisoning crews as to time of 
day to poison, and the kind of weather in 
which best results were secured. During 
cold, windy weather all operations were 
suspended; but during warm, still weather 
very fine results were secured from 6.30 
until 11.30 a. m. and fairly good results 
from 3 until 5 p. m. Generally from four 
to six weeks were required for grasshoppers 
to complete their hatching, necessitating 
poisoning each egg bed about every third 
day until hatching stopped. 

Constant poisoning was continued for 
two months or until the flying stage was 
reached, after which operations were dis- 
continued until the grasshoppers began 
congregating on the chosen egg beds for 
the purpose of depositing their eggs. All 
such areas were plotted and poisoned 
every second day, resulting in heavy 
kills. A check on results showed that 65 
per cent of all females were killed by this 
method before eggs could be deposited in 
the ground. As soon as this work was 
complete, cultivation of all beds on tilla- 
ble land was undertaken, resulting some- 
times in complete eradication of the eggs. 
It was found that light harrowing at in- 
tervals of two weeks exposed a large per- 
centage of the eggs to the wind and rain. 
A large percentage of the egg beds were 
located on rocky, gravelly land at the edge 
of the surrounding hill, making it impos- 
sible to cultivate. These beds were 
watched carefully for poisoning the fol- 
lowing spring. 

The main campaign was conducted 
during 1928, resulting in the mixing and 
spreading of 1,000,000 pounds of poison 



bran mash. The spring of 1929 showed 
less than 20 per cent as many eggs de- 
posited as in the spring of 1928. 

The same methods are being pursued 
this season, and at the present time prac- 
tically no damage has been sustained. 
Crop loss in 1928 was in the neighborhood 
of 1,500 acres of good grain, whereas the 
loss in 1929 was reduced to less than 100 
acres. Less than one-third as much ma- 
terial was required for the campaign of 
1929 in comparison with the huge quan- 
tity used in 1928, and the general condi- 
tion is much improved over any previous 
year since the drying up of the lake bot- 
tom was completed. 

Materials for poisoning were all pur- 
chased in car-lot quantities several months 
previous to the start of the campaign, 
thereby greatly reducing the cost. Total 
cost of the 1928 campaign, involving 
25,000 acres of grasshopper-infested land, 
was $13,000, not counting labor, ma- 
chinery, and equipment provided by 
lessees. The cost for the 1929 campaign 
will be less than $4,000. 

To show the effectiveness of the poison, 
a definite check was made in 1928 on a 
5-mile front where grasshoppers were mov- 
ing from the higher land into the heavy 
grain land on the lake bottom, showing an 
average of over 800 dead grasshoppers per 
square foot to a depth of 500 feet. 

Experience has proven that grasshop- 
pers can be controlled by the use of pois- 
oned bran mash, but that every precau- 
tion should be taken to see that it is prop- 
erly mixed and spread out. This can be 
done only through the proper organization 
properly financed, and through the em- 
ployment of competent field men who 
thoroughly understand the habits of this 
insect. 



A thorough knowledge of the funda- 
mental principles of economic law is the 
basis on which the individual must act 
in the prosecution of his business, whether 
it is growing potatoes, making binders, or 
running a bank. 



Dealers in all big alfalfa hay distribut- 
ing markets annually receive thousands of 
orders from dairymen for high-grade al- 
falfa hay which they can not fill because 
an insufficient quantity of such hay is 
produced. 



174 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



November, 1929 



Community Park an d Pool 

At Delta, Uncompahgre Project 



BACK in 1922 the people of Delta, 
Colo., a town of some 3,000 popu- 
lation on the Uncompahgre project, Colo- 
rado, decided that they should have a 
park. A park board was organized and 
secured about 20 acres of land near the 
edge of the town. They hired a land- 
scape architect who agreed to give them 
a preliminary general plan and also a 
planting plan, under which they could do 
as little or as much as they could afford 
each year, with the assurance that when 
the park was finally completed it would 
not be an unrelated series of yearly efforts 
but the culmination of a unified program. 
To-day the park is a reality and is serving 
the people of the community in no un- 
certain fashion. 

Feeling the need of recreation in some 
form for the young people of the town, 
about 75 of the business men subscribed 
about $15,000 to build a swimming pool in 
connection with the park and high school 
athletic field. The pool was finished July 
31, 1927. It is constructed of concrete, 
steel reinforced, and is 60 by 120 feet, with 
a depth varying from \% to 8K feet. The 
pool is an open-air structure and is kept 
open three months. It is heated by 
pumping the water through a large boiler. 

The water in the pool is thoroughly 
chlorinated, is changed every week, and 
the pool thoroughly cleaned every time 



it is emptied. A 12-inch gate valve is at 
the outlet, and the pool can be emptied 
in 55 minutes. The apparatus at the 
pool includes a large elide, water top, 
diving tower, and springboard. The 
dressing rooms are located under a walk 
above the pool, where spectators can look 
down on the pool and the swimmers. 

The attendants include a life guard who 
also acts as a swimming instructor, an 
assistant life guard, a fireman who also 
washes the suits, towels, etc., and a ticket 
seller. J. S. Wolyniec, the life guard, 
started a Brownie Club in Delta last 
summer, and it is understood that the 
Red Cross has taken up the idea and is 
starting the movement all over the 
country. The authorities have insisted 
on good behavior around the pool on the 
part of the patrons, and during the three 
seasons the pool has been open it has 
been unnecessary to exclude anyone. 
This matter is considered very important, 
as once a pool gets a bad name, the right 
kind of trade will not patronize it. 

Delta now has 7 acres of developed 
park in connection with the swimming 
pool grounds. They are now planning a 
community building for dancing, card 
parties, etc., the erection of which will 
make a complete combination for the 
entertainment of young and old in any 
rural community. 



More Settlers Come 

To Lower Yellowstone 

Through the activities of the Lower 
Yellowstone Development Association, 
75 people have been brought to the 
Lower Yellowstone project, Montana- 
North Dakota, according to a recent 
report, by H. E. Meisenbach, secretary of 
the association. 

In addition to sales made to outside 
people, the activities of the association 
have caused some of the best renters on 
the project, who have been there a num- 
ber of years, to buy because they saw 
that farms were being sold. The asso- 
ciation also arranged with the Richland 
County Fair Board to issue free tickets to 
the fair to all Colorado men and their 
families who came to the project during 
fair time, September 10 to 13. 

Most of the purchasers of project farms 
made small deposits on their places. 
They plan to make the remainder of the 
down payment this fall and move to the 
project immediately after they have 
harvested their crops in Colorado and 
Nebraska. The.y are all reported to be 
high-class farmers and beet growers. 

In this campaign for settlers the asso- 
ciation has enjoyed splendid cooperation 
all up and down the Yellowstone Valley, 
at Fairview, Sidney, Savage, and by 
farmers and others. It is believed that 
this nucleus of new settlers will be the 
means of attracting many more to the 
Lower Yellowstone project. 




Swimming pool and community park, Delta, Uncompahgre project, Colorado 



November, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



175 



Cotton Grown on the Projects 
in 1928 

Cotton was grown during 1928 on five 
Federal irrigation projects under the 
Bureau of Reclamation. The area de- 
voted to this crop on the Salt River 
project, Arizona; the Yuma project, Ari- 
zona-California; the Orland project, 
California; the Carlsbad project, New 
Mexico; and the Rio Grande project, 
New Mexico-Texas, amounted to 229,560 
acres, which in 1928 produced 193,480 
bales of lint and 89,836 tons of seed, hav- i 
ing a total value of $22,450,340, or $97.80 
per acre. In 1927 cotton was grown on 
the same projects on 178,875 acres and 
the crop of lint and seed was valued at 
$16,705,727, or $93.40 per acre. 

The largest acreage, yield, and value in 
1928 were on the Rio Grande project, New 
Mexico-Texas, where the 104,172 acres 
devoted to the crop produced 95,311 
bales of lint and 42,209 tons of seed, 
valued at $10,434,707, or $100.17 per acre. 
The highest value per acre of $104.09 was 
on the Salt River project, Arizona where 
71,923 acres produced lint and seed 
valued at $7,486,772. 

Detailed statistics are given in the 
accompanying table. 



Cotton grown in reclamation projects, 19S8 



Cost of Growing Cotton On 
Yuma Project 

Steve Owen, county agent of Yuma 
County, Ariz., has compiled figures 
showing the itemized cost of producing 
cotton on three farms in the valley division 
of the Yuma project, Arizona. These 
figures show that an average yield of 
three-fourths of a bale of lint cotton per 
acre, with cotton at 17 cents a pound, 
will pay the grower wages and 8 per cent 
on his investment. 

A survey of past years' cotton yields on 
the Yuma project shows that the average 
production has been a little in excess of ' 
three-fourths of a bale per acre. It can 
therefore be concluded that were it not 
for interest payments on borrowed money, 
the cotton farmers on this project would 
be in a healthy, economic condition. 
These loans are being liquidated and in a 
few years their burden will be largely 
removed. 

The growing of truck crops is increasing 
slowly, and it is noted that the farmers of 
other crops are beginning to realize that 
greater yields can be produced by better 
farming methods, for it is demanded of the 
produce grower that he farm along 
specified lines or financing will be refused, 
and he is now applying these methods to 
other crops with better results. 



Project Area 


Total yield 


Average per acre 


Value 


Lint 


Seed 


Lint 


Seed 


Total 


Per acre 


Acres 
Salt River . 71, 923 


Poundt 
29,267,053 
15, 157, 651 
'5,000 
4, 654, 791 
47, 655, 505 


Pounds 
58, 534, 107 
28, 942, 148 
'9,000 
7, 770, 000 
84, 418, 005 


Poundt 
406.92 
441. 36 
138.88 
243.87 
457.00 


Poundt 
813.84 
842.75 
250.00 
407.08 
810. 37 


$7,486,772 
3, 498, 103 
2,625 
1, 028, 133 
10, 434, 707 


$104.09 
101.86 
73.00 
54.13 
100.17 


Yuma 34, 342 


Orland 36 


Carlsbad 19, 087 


Rio Grande 104, 172 




Total and average... 229,560 96,740,000 


179, 673, 260 


421. 41 


782. 73 


22,450,340 97.80 



i Estimated. 

Lower Yellowstone Man 
Tofts Stock Market 

A recent item in the Sidney Herald 
shows the quality of stock produced 
on the Lower Yellowstone project. Mr. 
Ludington is one of the newer settlers on 
the project, coming from the adjacent dry- 
land area. 

"E. J. Ludington, prominent stockman 
and valley farmer, between Sidney and 
Fairview, returned this week from St. 
Paul, where he took a car of yearling 
cattle to market, which topped the year- 
ling market and incidentally brought him 
quite a little publicity in the South St. 
Paul Stockyards' official publication. 
Mr. Ludington fed the shipment of year- 
lings for market at his ranch and, know- 
ing his business thoroughly, had them in 
prime condition, so that in unloading they 
attracted the instant attention of the 
commission men at the stockyards in St. 
Paul, who wanted to know how he did it 
and where." 



Yuma Mesa Truck 

Farming Experiment 

A very successful experiment in truck 
farming is being carried on at the present 
time on a small tract of land in Unit B, 
Yuma Mesa division, Yuma project, 
Arizona. Squash, cucumbers, honeydew 
melons, tomatoes, eggplant, and a number 
of other vegetables were planted within 
the last two months and are succeeding 
exceptionally well. 

As an example of the rapidity of growth, 
summer squash on this tract reached 
maturity 33 days from the date of plant- 
ing. If this experiment, which looks 
very encouraging, proves successful, it 
is considered certain that a considerable 
acreage on the mesa will be devoted to 
winter and early spring vegetables and 
melons, for these crops can be placed on 
the market at a season when there is no 
competition from other localities. 




Combination section of Zittltas Main Canal, near Morrison Canyon, Yaklma project, Washington 



176 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



November, 1929 



Reclamation Organization Activities and Project Visitors 



DR. Elwood Mead, Commissioner of 
Reclamation, addressed the con- 
ference of the Western Division of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the United 
States, held at Ogden, Utah, September 
30 to October 1, on the subject of Federal 
Reclamation Its Achievements and 
Needs. Doctor Mead returned to the 
Washington office on October 5. 



R. F. Walter, chief engineer, made an 
official inspection during the month of the 
Riverton, Shoshone, Sun River, Milk 
River, and Lower Yellowstone projects. 



Madam Tatiana Kolpakova, S. Zapro- 
metov, A. Jimsky, Boris N. Abrahimoff 
Michiloff, Victor A. Staricoff, and Mr. 
Pyrim, engineers from Turkestan, Union 
of Socialist-Soviet-Republics, visited the 
Denver office recently to study construc- 
tion plans and methods used by the Bu- 
reau of Reclamation. 



Prof. John G. Alexandrov, director of 
the State Institute for Hydraulic Construc- 
tion of Moscow, Union of Socialist- 
Soviet-Republics, spent several days in 
the Denver office studying irrigation 
works and methods, followed by a field 
inspection of a number of the projects. 



Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of 
Reclamation Economics, was designated 
recently by the Secretary of the Interior 
to represent the department on a special 
subcommittee of the Interdepartmental 
Board of Simplified Office Procedure for 
the purpose of considering the adoption 
of a standard practice in the handling of 
motion-picture films as regards storage, 
loaning, shipping, indexing, catalogu- 
ing, and issuing of relevant publications. 

R. J. Coffey, district counsel, spent 
several days in the Washington office in 
connection with the Boulder Dam power 
contracts. 

Col. B. F. Fly, the father of the Yuma 
Mesa, Yuma project, Arizona-California, 
was a recent visitor at the Washington 
office. 

' Capt. Edward Gillings, president of the 
board of directors of the Okanogan irri- 
gation district, Okanogan project, Wash- 
ington, was found dead in his orchard 
recently. 



L. N. McClellan, electrical engineer, 
Denver office, arrived at the Washington 
office on October 8 for the conference in 
connection with the production and dis- 
tribution of power at Boulder Dam. 



Prof. Harald M. Westergaard has re- 
ported for duty in the Denver office for 
assignment as senior mathematician in 
connection with special studies of a 
highly technical nature pertaining to the 
mathematical treatment of arch dam de- 
signs, with particular reference to the 
designs for the Boulder Dam. 



R. J. Tipton, engineer in the hydro- 
graphic section of the Denver office, has 
resigned to accept a position with the 
State of Colorado, in charge of engineer- 
ing matters connected with the allocation 
of the waters of interstate streams. 



Bruce Lampson, office of the Director 
of Markets of Colorado, visited the Grand 
Valley project recently to make a survey 
of the dairy and poultry industries. 



Five Cows on a Farm 

Much has been said and written con- 
cerning the advisability of keeping a few 
cows on every farm. General statements 
advising such a course are more or less 
effective, but a more definite illustration 
recently set forth by a country banker is 
even more convincing. 

He declared that if each farmer in his 
county had five good cows and sold the 
milk or cream which they produced the 
cash returns would do these things in a 
year: 

Pay the farmer's State and county 
taxes. 

Pay his automobile license and buy two 
new tires. 

Provide a $40 kitchen cabinet, a $50 
sewing machine, and a $40 suite of fur- 
niture for the farm home, and school 
books for the children. 

Clothe a farm family of five persons. 

Buy $50 worth of paint for the farm 
buildings. 

Besides doing all these, the fertilizer 
produced would increase the soil fertility 
of the farm, and the farmer would in addi- 
tion have all his calves for sale or for 
keeping to augment his herd. Pocatello 
Tribune. 

o 



Hon. James Rudolph Garfield, former 
Secretary of the Interior, was a recent 
visitor at the Washington office. 



Recent visitors on the Orland project 
included Representative Clarence F. Lea, 
of the first California district, and George 
J. Evatt, irrigation commissioner of Syd- 
ney, New South Wales, Australia. 



The Oregon Irrigation Congress was in 
session at Ontario, Oreg., during Septem- 
ber. Their program included a visit to 
various construction features of the Vale 
project. 

Miguel E. Montalva and Luis Eyquem, 
Government engineers from Santiago de 
Chile, were recent visitors at the Wash- 
ington office, making a study of the or- 
ganization and administration of the 
bureau. They plan to visit the Denver 
office and a number of the projects, par- 
ticularly Vale, Owyhee, Kittitas, Mini- 
doka Gravity Extension, and Salt Lake 
Basin. 

John A. Keimig, junior engineer, North 
Platte project, has been temporarily trans- 
ferred to Casper, Wyo., to assist in the 
classification of the lands of the Casper- 
Alcova project. 



R. K. Tiffany, supervisor of hydraulics 
of the State of Washington, and George 
J. Evatt, irrigation commissioner for New 
South Wales, Australia, were recent 
visitors on the Yakima project. 



Lee D. Purdin, concrete inspector, Kit- 
titas division of the Yakima project, has 
been transferred to Yuma, Ariz., for 
service as instrument man on the All 
American Canal surveys. 



Recent visitors on the Minidoka project 
included J. H. Rothrock, A. W. Harring- 
ton, and G. G. Paulsen, members of a 
commission to study allocation of power 
profits; F. M. Goodwin, formerly Assistant 
Secretary of the Interior; Barry Dibble, 
consulting engineer and former project 
manager; and Fred F. Henshaw, engineer, 
Federal Power Commission. 



The bureau has heard with regret of the 
death, in October, of Hervey Lindley, 
president of the Columbia Basin League. 



ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION FOR THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 

HON. HAY LYMAN WILBUR, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR 

Jos. M. Dixon, First Assistant Secretary; John H. Edwards, Assistant Secretary; E. C. Finney, Solicitor of the Interior Department; 

E. K. Burlew, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary and Budget Officer; 

Northcutt Ely and Ernest W. Sawyer, Executive Assistants 

Washington. D. C. 

Elwood Mead, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 

Miss M. A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner P. W. Dent, Assistant Commissioner George C. Kreutzer, Director of Reclamation Economics 

W. F. Kubach, Chief Accountant C. A. Bissell, Chief of Engineering Division Hugh A. Brown, Assistant Director of Reclamation Economics 

C. N. McCulloch, Chief Clerk 

Dmccr, CohraJo. Wilda BuilJins 

R. F. Walter, Chief Engineer; S. O. Harper, General Superintendent of Construction; J. L. Savage, Chief Designing Engineer; E. B. Debler, Hydrographic Engineer; 
L. N. McClellan, Electrical Engineer; C. M. Day, Mechanical Engineer; Armand Oflutt, District Counsel; L. R. Smith, Chief Clerk; Harry Caden, Fiscal Agent; C. A. 
Lyman, Field Representative. 



Project 


Office 


Superintendent 


Chief clerk 


Fiscal agent 


District counsel 


Name 


Office 




Newell, S. Dak 


F. C. Youngblutt... 
R. J. Newell. .. 
L. E. Foster 
J. C. Page 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


J. P. Siebeneicher 


Wm. J. Burke 


Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Montrose, Colo. 

Berkeley, Calif. 
Billings, Mont. 
Do. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Berkeley, Calif. 
Portland, Oreg. 
El Paso, Tex. 
Mitchell, Nebr. 

Billings, Mont. 
Do. 

Montrose, Colo. 
Portland, Oreg. 
Do. 
Berkeley, Calif. 


Boise 1 


Boise, Idaho _._ 

Carlsbad, N. Mex 
Grand Junction, Colo. 
Ballantine, Mont 






W. C. Berger 


W. C. Berger 


H. J. S. Devries 


Grand Valley 


W. J. Chiesman 


W. J. Chiesman 


J. R. Alexander 


Huntley J 










King Hill 3 


King Hill, Idaho 












Klamath Falls, Oreg.. 
Savage, Mont_ 
Malta, Mont 


H. D. Newell 


'AT. G. Wheeler 


Joseph C. Avery 


R. J. Coffey 
E. E. Roddis 




H. A. Parker 


E. R. Scheppelmann.. 
E. E. Chabot 
G. C. Patterson 


E. R. Scheppelmann . 
E. E. Chabot . 




H. H. Johnson 
E. B. Darlington 


do 




Burley, Idaho 


Miss A. J. Larson 


B. E. Stoutemyer... 
R J Coffey 




Fallon, Nev 






"Vorth Platte fl 


Mitchell, Nebr 


H. C. Stetson 


Virgil E. Hubbell.--. 


Virgil E. Hubbell 


Wm J Burke 




Okanogan, Wash 






B E Stoutemyer 


Orland 


Orland, Calif 


R. C. E. Weber... 
F. A. Banks 


C. H. Lillingston 
H N Bickel 


C. H. Lillingston 


R. J. Coffey 

B. E. Stoutemyer 
H. J. S. Devries... 
Wm. J. Burke 




Rio Grande . . 


El Paso, Tex 
Riverton, Wyo , 


L. R. Fiock. 
H.D. Comstock 


Henry H. Berryhill 
R. B. Smith... 


Henry H. Berryhill... 
Erie W. Shepard 


Salt Lake Basin 


Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Phoenix, Ariz- . 






Salt River s 












Powell Wyo 


L H Mitchell 


W F Sha 




E E Roddis 


Strawberry Vallev I0 


Payson, Utah ,. 










Sun River n 


Fairfleld, Mont 


G. O. San ford 


H. W. Johnson 


H. W. Johnson 


E. E. Roddis 




flrrigon, Oreg 










Umatilla a 

Uncompahgre 


\Hermiston, Oreg 










Montrose, Colo... 


L. J. Foster... 


G. H. Bolt 


F. D. Helm... 


J. R. Alexander. 


Vale 


Vale, Oreg 


H. W. Bashore 


C. M. Voyen 


C. M. Voyen 
J. C. Gawler 
E. M. Philebaum 


. B E Stoutemyer 


Yakima 


Yakima Wash 


P. J. Preston 


R. K. Cunningham .. 
H. R. Pasewalk.. 


do.... 
R. J. Coffey 


Yuma 


Yuma, Ariz 


R. M. Priest 











Large Conslntdion 



Salt Lake Basin, Echo 


Coalville, Utah 


F. F. Smith " - 


C. F. Williams 




J. R. Alexander 


Montrose, Colo. 


Dam. 
Kittitas 




Walker R Young I3 


E R Mills 






Portland Oreg 




Fairfield, Mont 


A. W. Walker " 






E E Roddis 




Construction. 


Cascade, Idaho 




C. B. Funk 




B E Stoutemver 


Portland, Oreg 


wood Dam. 















1 Operation of Arrowrock Division assumed by Nampa-Meridian, Black Canyon, 
Boise-Kuna, Wilder, Big Bend, and New York Irrigation Districts on Apr. 1, 1926. 

2 Operation of project assumed by Huntley Project Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1927. E. E. Lewis, manager. 

3 Operation of project assumed by King Hill Irrigation District on Mar. 1, 1926. 
F. L. Kinkade, manager. 

4 Operation of South Side Pumping Division assumed by Burley Irrigation Dis- 
trict on Apr. 1, 1926, and of Gravity Division by Minidoka Irrigation District on 
Dec. 2, 1916. 

' Operation of project assumed by Truckee-Carson Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 
1926. D. S. Stuver, manager. 

Operation of Interstate Division assumed by Pathfinder Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926; Fort Laramie Division by Goshen Irrigation District and Gering and 
Fort Laramie Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926; and Northport Division by North- 
port Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1926. 



' Operation of project assumed by Okanogan Irrigation District on Dec. 31, 1928. 
Joe C. Iddings, manager. 

8 Operation of project assumed by Salt River Valley Water Users' Association on 
Nov. 1, 1917. C. C. Cragin, general superintendent and chief engineer. 

9 Operation of Garland Division assumed by Shoshone Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

10 Operation of project assumed by Strawberry Water Users' Association on 
Dec. 1, 1926. Lee R. Taylor, manager. 

11 Operation of Fort Shaw Division assumed by Fort Shaw Irrigation District on 
Dec. 31, 1926. 

11 Operation of West Division assumed by West Extension Irrigation District on 
July 1, 1926, A. C. Houghton, manager; and East Division by Hermiston Irriga- 
tion District informally on July 1, 1926, and formally, by contract, on Dec. 31, 1926, 
Enos D. Martin, manager. 

1J Construction engineer. 



Important Investigations in Progress 



Project 


Office 


In charge of 


Cooperative agency 


\ll-American Canal investigations 




H J Gault 








C C Fisher 




Utah investigations 


Salt Lake City, Utah 


E. 0. Larson 


State of Utah. 


Yakima project extensions _ 


Yakima, Wash 


P. J. Preston 




Alcova-Casper and Saratoga projects 


Casper, Wyo 


J. R. lakisch 













7000 



6000 



_i 
u 
> 



5000 



< 

u 
N 



u 

o 
m 
< 



3000 



Z. 

q 





2000 



1000 



Hot Sulphui 
Springs, 

Colorado _ 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 

PROFILE OF COLORADO RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES 

SHOWING 

PRINCIPAL DAM SITES 

SEPTEMBER 1929 



WYOMING 



1 



IUTAHK--H- 



Green River; Wyoming 
Flaming Gorge Dam Site 



Swallow Canyon Dam Site 
Browns Perk Dam Site 



UTAH 

Craig, Colorado 



-Juniper Mountain Dam Site 
Maybell Dam Site 





Echo Park Dam Site 
Island Park Dam Site 

Split Mountain Dam Site 



Minnie Maud Dam Site 

Rock CreeU Dam Site- 
Point of Diversion-Qreen River Project- 



RetHesnake Dam Site. 
Green River, Utah.- 



500 400 300 200 IOO 

DISTANCE: IN MILES FROM JUNCTION or RIVERS 



Escalante River 
Crossing of the Fathers 
Canyon Dam Site 



kARIZONA-CALIFORNIAH ARIZONA-^ 
R rt 1 1 r\j n A D v MF \/A n A ' 



BOUNDARY 



Virgin River- 
Boulder Canyon Dam Site j 
_ : Eldorado Ferry- 

6u Ms Head Dam Site i 

| Ft Mohave, Arizona 1 

Needles, Arizona- 
Topoc Dam Site- 
Williams River- 
Parker Dam Site- 
Parker, Arizona.- 




Par 
I GRAND 

'CANYON 
NATIONAL 

PARK 





-Eagle River 
Shoshone Power 



Glenwood Springs, 
Colorado 



Rrfle, Colorado 



-Grand Junction, 
Colorado 



-rDolores River 
4TJewey Dam Site 



-Dark Canyon Dam Site 
Fremont Riveri 



NEVADA 



Red Wall Dam Site 
Little 'Colorado River 



Mineral Canyon Dam Site 
Bright Angel Creek 

Ruby Canyon Dam Site 
/ARIZONA 4< UTAH 

--Specter Chasm Dam Sit<? 
Kanab Creek 
Havasau Dam Site 



-Diamond Creek Dam Site 
3ridge Canyon Darn 3ite 



-Grand Wash 
-Greggs Ferry 

BLACK CANYON DAM SITE. 



4.. 



COLORADO 



- La gr 



^Canal Heading- Palo Verde Valley 

-Yu ma, Arizona 

I i 1 1 i L i 1 1 1 1 i i 1 1 I i 1 1 1 1 i 1 11 1 1 i i i I i i i i i i > i i M-*-M-i-^ 



...i... 



6000 



5000 



iOOO 



3000 



zooo 



1000 



ZOO 300 400 500 600 700 800 90O 1000 

DISTANCE IN MILES FROM RAILROAD BRIDGE AT YUMA, ARIZONA 



1100 



1200 



1300 



1400 



45-D-6OI 



U. 5. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 1929 



NEW 

RECLAMATION ERA 



VOL. 20 



DECEMBER, 1929 



NO. 12 




BLACK CANYON ON THE COLORADO RIVER WHERE IT IS PROPOSED TO BUILD THE BOULDER DAM 



CARLOADS AND VALUE OF PRODUCTS 
SHIPPED TO AND FROM PROJECTS IN 1928 



PROJECTS c 

BELLE FOURCHE 
SOUTH DAKOTA 

BOISE 


1 


INLJIVI cstr\ \jr ^Mr\l__> MI_I 
3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 


22 $398,000 
y^ 7 ^ $1.614.8OO 



























29117 


Y/////////////////^ 


IDAHO 

CARLSBAD 

NEW MEXICO 

GRAND VALLEY 

COLORADO 

KLAMATH 


y's/'/Y/y*// 


////////////////////////////////////A $27.963.9 


IO 




\ 


S1.82E 


I.6OO 
25.5C 


O 
















^/////////A 


'////\ $2.218.175 


Y////////////A $3.2 






'////////////////////////X $6.517.650 










y/My/tfy/Y/', 


W/////'////////////^^^^ 


ORE.-CALIF 

MINIDOKA 
IDAHO 

NORTH PLATTE 
NEBR.-WYO 

ORLAND 
CALIFORNIA 

RIO GRANDE 
N MEX.-TEXAS 

SALT RIVER 

ARIZONA 

SHOSHONE 

WYOMING 

STRAWBERRY VAL. 

UTAH 

SUN RIVER 

MONTANA 

UMATILLA 

OREGON 

VALE 

OREGON 

YAKIMA 

WASHINGTON 

YUMA 
ARIZ.-CALIF. 

ceo 


'////////// 


y//// / ///////////////$^,Bttri36 / ^/s/y/y/y/y///y/y/y/\ 






$2.126.347 














>7.591 


890 




Y////////////////A 






'////////'///////////////////A $5.509.709 










//////y//////////////////^^^^ 




i i 






y //////// 


////////////////////// 


///////// 


Y//////^Q.\ 39.650 '/////A 


g] $243.850 
y//\ $1.620.950 














,65O 














// //A $9.99"! 


1 




$2.218.175 










I 




y//////////////////////^^^ 




1 1 


f / AS jfr // // /y //s //s /y 


'////////// / &*>.CiQO33O / /////' / // '//////////' '//24.59Ci'% 


^ $729.375 


5.680 
























y //////A 


$1.05 




y/////////////////////^^^ $2.771.595 






93.e\- 


',880 


'////////////////////A 


\ $97.7OO 
^ $424.8Oi 

^ $461.52( 
^23 *283.1 

j $178.000 
] $239.OOO 


3 

) 
73 






DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 






\/Z y // / /Y/ / / / /y)( CARLOADS TO PROJECTS 




OADS FROM PROJECTS 


V// / '///y'A CARL 
















Y/////////////////// 


$3.114.7OO 


Y ///////////////////////// 


^-$10,037, 300 '////// 


//// 


/^X^^ / x^ / x^C 2 O.4OO^ 


y//ft/y/A $2.856.700 

























Y//// ////// //\ $3.698.000 


. 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 

Issued monthly by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 

Price 75 cents a year 

RAY LYMAN WILBUR ELWOOD MEAD 

Secretary of the Interior Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation 



Vol. 20 



December, 1929 



No. 12 



Interesting High Lights on the Federal Reclamation Projects 



OUGAR-BEET yields on the Uncom- 
kj pahgre project are better than they 
have been for several years. Prices are 
excellent for all crops except onions, most 
of which were going into storage in antici- 
pation, of better prices next spring. 



THOMAS R. SMITH, of Harper, 
Oreg., was the first to file a water- 
rental application for water from the 'Vale 
project and the first to make homestead 
entry on the project. A number of settlers 
are clearing their lands of sagebrush in 
preparation for irrigation next year. 



A CONTRACT has been awarded by 
the Oregon State Highway Commis- 
sion for the surfacing of the 22-mile 
section of the Central Oregon Highway 
between Vale and Harper, Vale project, 
and for the widening of % miles of this 
section, at a total cost of $114,581. 



AT the Owyhee Dam, Owyhee project, 
1\ excavation for the foundation con- 
tinued and the power outlet tunnel was 
completed. At the end of the month the 
dam was 22 per cent completed. 



THE development of the natural-gas 
resources of the Milk River project, 
now in progress by two companies, will be 
a material factor in project development. 
A considerable portion of the irrigable area 
will be tributary to the several supply 
lines now under construction, making this 
fuel available for use on the farms. 



TpORTY-FIVE farms in private owner- 
J7 ship on the Orland project have been 
placed under option to the United States 
for advertisement and sale to prospective 
settlers. These farms contain 1,297.6 
acres and are appraised at $161,025. The 
directors of the Orland Unit Water Users' 
Association plan to advertise these farms 
in Portland and Los Angeles papers during 
the present winter. ^ _ ,. 

8127129 



MORE than 10,000 persons attended 
the annual Glenn County Fair at 
Orland, Orland project, during October. 
The livestock and agricultural exhibits 
were especially attractive. The fair 
showed a profit of $1,200. 



THE potato-meal factory at Burley, 
Minidoka project, being erected by 
the Otato Corporation, is expected to be 
ready to start operations during the pres- 
ent season. 



THE SEASON'S GREETINGS 

FROM THE SECRETARY 



the Yuletide season ap- 
proaching I am glad to send, 
through the medium of the NEW 
RECLAMATION ERA, a message of greet- 
ings and best wishes to the personnel 
of the Bureau of Reclamation, the peo- 
ple they serve, and all the readers of 
this magazine. By cooperation Hie 
have made some strides forward, and 
by a continuation of the same we hope 
to solve some of the other problems con- 
fronting us. I wish you all a very 
Merry Christmas. 

RAT LYMAN WILBUR. 



T TNUSUALLY heavy yields of crops, 
\_j 'especially of potatoes, with corre- 
spondingly large returns, were reported 
from the Minidoka project. Many farms 
reported returns of $300 to $500 per acre. 
On the Gravity division the returns from 
the potato crop will this year amount to 
$2,000,000, which is more than the amount 
received for all crops last year. 



THREE Belle Fourche project dairy- 
men each had seven cows producing 
more than 40 pounds of butterfat during 
September, as reported by the Black Hills 
Dairy Improvement Association. The 
number of dairy cows on the project has 
increased considerably during the past 
year. 



A COMMUNITY, club has been or- 
jF\. ganized on the Greenfields division 
of the Sun River project for the purpo.se 
of holding meetings and discussing farm- 
ing subjects intimately related to the 
successful development of the projtct. 



Atf estimate of the citrus fruit crop 
this year on the Mesa division of the 
Yuma project is 65,000 to 70,000 boxes 
from approximately 500 acres of bearing 
trees on Unit "B," and an additional 
10,000 boxes from groves outside this unit. 



THE second annual pecan day was 
celebrated on November 1 by the 
pecan growers and others interested in the 
industry on the Yuma project. A tour 
was made of the larger pecan groves on 
the project. The acreage planted to 
pecans is increasing steadily. 



THE Langwell Valley cheese factory, 
Klamath project, has increased its 
daily milk supply from 1,600 to 2,600 
pounds. 

THIS year's pear crop on the Rio 
Grande project is reported to have 
brought the largest returns in the history 
of the project, the gross returns being 
about $290,000. 

SEVERAL prospective homesteaders 
were shown over the Riverton project 
during the month, one 'application was 
received, and two applicants made home- 
stead entry. 

WORK continued on the construc- 
tion of Echo Dam, Salt Lake 
Basin project, and good progress was made 
on all features of the work. The amount 
of material placed in the clay, sand, and 
gravel section of the dam amounted, 
during the month, to 196,341 cubic 
yards, or 83,611 cubic yards more than 
the previous record made in the month 
of August. 

177 



178 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



December, 1929 



Settling Land in Private Ownership on the Orland Project, California 

By R. C. E. Weber. Superintendent 



PRIOR to 1920, progress in settlement 
of the Orland project continued at a 
satisfactory rate, each year showing a 
marked increase in the project acreage 
brought under irrigation over that for the 
previous year. In 1920 a water shortage, 
amounting to about 50 per cent of a nor- 
mal supply for the acreage under irriga- 
tion, resulted in a decrease of 1,400 acres 
in the area irrigated. This was the first 
break in steady upward trend of the graph 
showing the settlement rate on the project 
since the beginning of its operation by the 
Government in 1911, when stored water 
was first available from the project system. 
Notwithstanding the adverse effects of the 
1920 water shortage and the still greater 
depressing effect on agricultural progress 
resulting from the deflation period follow- 
ing the World War, advance was made in 
the project development during 1921, 
1922, and 1923, culminating in the latter 
year, when 15,500 acres the largest in 
the history of the project were under 
irrigation. 

Full development of the project by 1923 
would have occurred had the rate at which 
new lands were coming under irrigation, 
which prevailed prior to 1920, continued 
subsequent to that year. Notwithstand- 
ing the drought year of 1920 and the post- 
war deflation of prices for farm products, 
progress during 1921, 1922, and 1923 was 
such that had the rate for these three 
years continued, full development of the 
project would have been attained in 1936, 
with some 17,500 acres under irrigation 
during 1928. This anticipated rate of 
progress, however, suffered a serious set- 
back as a result of the acute and unprece- 
dented water shortage of 1924, when only 
one-fourth of the normal irrigation re- 
quirement was available for slightly more 
than one-half of the project area, which 
was irrigated that season. The acreage 
under irrigation decreased from 15,500 
during 1923 to slightly less than 12,000 
for 1924. Although remarkable recov- 
ery in many ways from the effects of the 
drought year have since been made in the 
project's economic fabric, a definite and 
satisfactory trend in the rate of progress 
in bringing more project lands under irri- 
gation has not yet been established. 

THE PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT 

In the farms operated on the project 
are some 16,800 irrigable acres, of which 
14,500 are irrigated, the difference of 2,300 
acres representing the acreage in the pro- 
cess of reclamation. Assuming the ulti- 
mate acreage of the project to be 20,750 
acres, there are about 4,000 acres of inop- 
.erative lands as far as utilization of the 



project works is concerned. It was with 
the purpose of stimulating the develop- 
ment of this area that Commissioner El- 
wood Mead in 1926 met at Orland with 
representatives of landowners and officials 
of the water users' association regarding 
a plan for placing these lands in the 
ownership of operating farmers. 

Briefly, the plan contemplated the list- 
ing of the lands by the owners with the 
Reclamation Bureau under an agreement, 
whereby the sale price would be controlled 
for a definite period of time, and during 
which efforts would be made to secure 
qualified purchasers. Prices were to be 
based on independent appraisals by a 
disinterested board appointed by the 
Reclamation Bureau and the directors of 
the water users' association. Sales were 
to be made under a uniform selling con- 
tract, providing for 10 per cent cash 
payment at the time of sale, 6 per cent 
semiannual interest payments only during 
the following two years, and the balance 
payable during the ensuing 18 years in 



GEORGE C. KREUTZER DIES IN 
OFFICE 

George C. Kreutzer. Director of 
Reclamation Economics, died in 
the Washington office of the Bureau 
of Reclamation on November 23, 
1929, following an acute attack of 
angina pectoris. 

Mr. Kreutzer came to the bureau 
five years ago to take charge of the 
economic work, for which he was 
eminently qualified through his 
years of experience in Australia, 
where he was associated with Dr. 
Elwood Mead, Commissioner of 
Reclamation, and at that time chair- 
man of the Rivers and Water Sup- 
ply Commission of Victoria. Before 
coming to the bureau Mr. Kreutzer 
had been manager of the California 
State land settlement irrigation proj- 
ect at Durham. His marked ability, 
excellent judgment, and engaging 
personality won the respect and 
friendship of all with whom he came 
in contact. 

Mr. Kreutzer is survived by his 
widow, Mrs. Dorothy McFarlane 
Kreutzer, and two children, Elwood 
William, a page in the United States 
Senate, and Adelaide Dorothy. 

Funeral services were held on 
Monday, November 25, and were 
attended by the force in the Wash- 
ington office and many other friends 
in Washington. 



semiannual amortized installments, alsa 
carrying 6 per cent interest. Farming 
experience and certain capital require- 
ments were contemplated in connection 
with prospective land buyers. 

The plan met with approbation and 
early in 1927 the form of agreement 
between the landowners and the United 
States, as well as the uniform contract of 
sale, were prepared and approved. The 
approved form of land options provided 
the following salient features: 

1. Use of the approved uniform con- 
tract of sale in effectuating sale of the 
lands. 

2. Purchasers to be qualified on the 
basis of sufficient industry, experience, 
character, and capital to efficiently and 
profitably operate a farm on the Orland 
project. 

3. Capital requirements of prospective 
land buyers to consist of cash, or unen- 
cumbered negotiable securities readily 
convertible into cash, in the following 
amounts: 



Size of farm 



To and including 10 acres 

Over 10 and not exceeding 20 acres.. 
Over 20 and not exceeding 30 aeres.. 
Over 30 and not exceeding 40 acres.. 



Required 
capital 



$2,500 
3,250 
4,000 
5,500 



It was recognized that insufficient 
capital with which to effect immediate 
improvements and bring a farm into early 
production was a serious handicap for a 
new settler, and consequently the above 
capital requirements were considered 
essentially necessary. 

4. Agreement by the landowners that 
if further subdivision of the lands de- 
scribed in the option is necessary or desir- 
able in order to provide suitably sized 
farms for purchasers, such subdivisions 
shall be made and the smaller units shall 
be sold at prices so that the aggregate 
selling price of the several parts comprising 
the subdivision shall equal the selling 
price fixed in the option for the farm 
before subdivision. This was to prevent 
subdivision of a tract into smaller units 
and selling the subdivision at prices, the 
aggregate of which would exceed the 
selling price of the original farm or unit. 

5. Provision for payment by the land- 
owners of a commission, amounting to 5 
per cent of the selling price of the land, 
to any real estate operator or other selling 
agency, other than the United States, for 
selling the land under such terms and con- 
ditions as might be agreed upon by the 
landowner and the selling agency. 

6. Provision for the landowner to seek 
a buyer and sell the land himself at the 



December, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



179 




Pure-bred Jersey herd on the Sunnyside division of the Yakiina project, Washington 



appraised valuation and upon the terms 
provided in the uniform contract of sale. 

7. Options to continue until December 
31, 1928. 

In addition to containing the selling 
terms hereinbefore enumerated, the uni- 
form contract of sale also provides that 
during the first year, following the sale 
of the land, the purchaser will effect im- 
provements equal in value to one-half of 
the total purchase price, not less than one- 
fourth of such improvements to consist 
of preparing, leveling, planting, and seed- 
ing the land for the growing of crops. 
All county taxes, together with charges 
for operation and maintenance and con- 
struction, which become due after the 
date of the sale contract, shall be paid by 
the purchaser. Good and sufficient mer- 
chantable title to the land purchased (at 
the expense of the land seller) is guaranteed 
by a policy of title insurance, issued by a 
reliable title insurance company, in the 
full amount of the entire purchase price 
of the property. The contract also pro- 
vides that the purchaser at the request of 
the land seller will apply for a Federal or 
a joint-stock land-bank loan, or a loan 
from a similar loaning institution making 
loans on real property on the installment 
repayment plan, in an amount sufficient 
to enable the purchaser to liquidate the 
balance of the purchase price, including 
interest, then remaining unpaid. Inas- 
much as such loans are made only in con- 
nection with farms in a producing state, 
it will usually be from three to five years 
after purchase before application for such 
loan will be required. Assuming that five 
years after purchase, the land buyer is 
qualified to procure a Federal loan, he 
will have had a total of 39^ years in which 
to make full repayment of the purchase 



price of his farm, five years of which will 
be under the uniform contract of sale and 
34} years under the Federal farm loan. 

APPRAISAL OF THE LANDS 

After approval and preparation of the 
approved forms of the agreement and 
uniform selling contract in March, 1927, 
an appraisal board was appointed by the 
bureau and the water users' association. 
The latter designated two members of 
its board of directors, and the project 
superintendent was appointed by the 
commissioner to serve as the bureau's 
representative. An appraisal fee of $6 



for each farm was established to defray 
the cost incurred in making an appraise- 
ment, this sum to be advanced to the 
water users' assocition, after which the 
property was appraised and a report 
furnished the landowner. If the ap- 
praisal was satisfactory, the owner then 
executed the agreement, placing the land 
under option to the United States for 
advertisement and sale. 

Letters were mailed to all interested 
| landowners regarding the subject of land 
' appraisals and 36 responded by depositing 
with the water users' association the re- 
quired appraisal fees, the aggregate 
amount of which was $462. The ap- 
praisal board convened at various times 
during the latter part of April, in May, 
and in June, spending the equivalent of 
seven days in the field appraising 77 
farms for which appraisal fees were re- 
mitted. The total acreage appraised 
was 2,121.5 and the valuation was 
$285,400 for the 77 farms. The appraised 
valuation varied from $70 to $175 per 
acre for unimproved land and from $95 
to $235 for improved property. Subse- 
quently 64 of the farms appraised were 
placed under option by the owners to the 
United States for the period ending 
December 31, 1928; the area comprised 
1,787.6 acres and the valuation was 
$238,000. 

Listing of the property with the Gov- 
ernment was concluded in July, 1927, 
at which time a description of each farm 
and other related information concerning 
the project and the Orland community 
was sent to Washington for incorporation 
in an illustrated, color-covered booklet, 
describing opportunities for farm owner- 




Picking red raspberries on the Minidoka project Idaho 



180 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



December, 192 



ship on the Orland project with particular 
reference to the farms under option to the 
United States. An edition of 15,000 
booklets was printed and available for 
distribution early in November. These 
were immediately given wide distribution 
through various agencies. A large num- 
ber were mailed to the list of inquiries on 
file in the project office. Over 1,000 
copies were sent to the Los Angeles office 
of the Sacramento Region Citizen's 
Council for distribution by the council's 
representative stationed in the chamber of 
commerce at that place. The Grants 
Pass (Oreg.) and the Salt Lake City 
offices of the council were also provided 
with a supply for distribution, together 
with the Denver Tourist and Publicity 
Bureau. 

During the summer of 1927 a contract 
was executed between the members of the 
Orland Realty Board and the Reclama- 
tion Bureau in connection with the 
procedure relative to selling lands under 
option to such qualified land buyers as 
might be referred to the board for viewing 
and examining the farms available for 
sale. This contract provided that the 
project office would refer qualified land 
buyers to the various members of the 
board in rotation. The members of the 
board agreed to furnish such land buyers 
with all available information concerning 
the farms under option to the United 
States and also to furnish transportation 
facilities in order that the land might be 
viewed and examined. It was also 
provided that the board members would 
make no effort to sell such prospective 
buyers any lands other than those on 
which the Government holds optional 
agreements, unless and until such land 
purchasers were first brought to the 
project office and there had executed a 
statement, stating that having viewed 
the lands under option, they now desire to 
acquire lands other than those listed by 
the bureau. 

THE EXAMINING BOARD 

In the fall of the year an examining 
board to consider and pass upon the 
applications of prospective buyers of 
farms under option to the United States 
was appointed by the Secretary of the 
Interior. The three members of the 
appraisal board were so designated. A 
special form of inquiry blank was pre- 
pared and printed for use in this con- 
nection. 

In November the directors' board of the 
water users' association appropriated $250 
for a fund to be used in advertising the 
farms under option; local interests con- 
sisting of members of the Orland Realty 
Board and interested land owners also 
contributed, so that a sum of $500 was 
raised for advertising purposes. Adver- 
tisements were placed in 11 papers 



mostly agricultural periodicals published 
in the mid-Central States as well as in 
the Sunday editions of the newspapers of 
largest circulation in Los Angeles. These 
advertisements were run during Decem- 
ber, 1927, and continued into March and 
April of the following year. 

RESULTS OF ADVERTISING 

As a result of this advertisement, ap- 
proximately 500 inquiries were received 
at the project office. These were an- 
swered by letters, with which was inclosed 
a copy of the illustrated Orland booklet 
published by the bureau, a leaflet also 
prepared by the bureau, and an illustrated 
folder of the Orland Chamber of Com- 
merce, all containing general information 
regarding the project and contiguous 
farming community. A copy of the in- 
quiry blank used in determining the 
financial, farming, and other qualifica- 
tions of land buyers was also inclosed with 
the literature. 

In addition to the advertising financed 
by local interests, the Southern Pacific 
Co., through R. E. Kelly, manager of 
development and colonization, effectively 
cooperated with the bureau in advertising 
the farms under option to the Govern- 
ment. At its own expense, the company 
advertised the farms in six agricultural 
publications in the mid-Central States, 
as a result of which 86 inquiries were 
received. Copies of Mr. Kelly's replies 
were furnished the project office and fol- 
low-up letters with supplemental litera- 
ture were forwarded. Other effective 
advertising, also involving no expense to 
the project, was afforded through the 
medium of the Standard Oil Bulletin, 
published by the Standard Oil Co. of 
California. In the April, 1928, issue 
of this publication, there appeared an 
illustrated article regarding the Orland 
project, in which mention was made of 
the farms available for sale under Gov- 
ernment supervision. A number of in- 
quiries originated from this article. 

The advertising during the winter and 
spring of 1927-28 resulted in the filing of 
21 applications. These were promptly- 
rated by the examining board upon receipt 
of replies from the references submitted 
by the applicants. Only one or two 
applications were disapproved on account 
of lack of the necessary requirements, 
both as to finances and farming experience. 
Three farms were sold or otherwise dis- 
posed of by the owners, only one of which, 
however, was purchased by a buyer who 
qualified before the examining board. 
The effort and expense, however, was not 
altogether without some encouraging 
benefits and results. A number of people 
were attracted to the project through the 
advertising, and the attention thus focused 
on the community was doubtless well 
worth the expense incurred. It is known 



that there were two instances where 
farms were purchased, other than those 
under option to the bureau, the buyers of 
which were attracted to Orland by the 
advertising campaign. These particular 
farms for a number of years inoper- 
ative were thus brought into production. 

In view of the large number of inquiries 
received during 1927-28, it was considered 
advisable to renew the options, which 
expired December 31, 1928, and to con- 
tinue advertising during the winter of 
1928-29. Most of the landowners were 
receptive to the plan as evidenced by the 
fact that nearly all the land under option 
during 1928 was again placed under agree- 
ment for sale during 1929; 60 farms, in- 
volving 1,661.4 acres and an appraised 
valuation of $217,275, were signed up by 
the owners. 

Funds for the advertising campaign 
during 1928-29 were readily forthcoming 
from the same organizations and interests 
which contributed to the fund during the 
previous year; a total of $405 was sub- 
scribed. Advertisements were inserted in 
the Sunday editions of Los Angeles, 
Portland, and Seattle newspapers in an 
endeavor to attract land buyers who are 
located nearer the project, rather than 
advertise in mid-Central States as was 
done during the preceding year. 

The advertising resulted in more than 
400 inquiries being received; 18 appli- 
cations were filed, and 3 of the farms under 
option were sold. In addition, two buyers 
were attracted to Orland and purchased 
project property other than farms under 
option. 

At the close of November, 45 farms, 
with an aggregate area of 1,298 acres and 
an appraised value of $161,025, had been 
placed under option for another period of 
12 months ending December 31, 1930. 



General Survey of Danish 
Agriculture 

A recent issue of the Records of the 
National Agricultural Institute of France 
contains an interesting extract- from the- 
report of the mission in 1928 of M. Jean 
de Gibon, agricultural engineer, on a gen- 
eral survey of Danish agriculture. The 
introduction and part 1 of the report are 
included in the publication, parts 2 and 3 
to be printed later. The following chapter 
headings of part 1 indicate the scope of 
this portion of the survey: 

Generalities; three types of farms; 
breeding associations; agricultural coop- 
eration; grain producers' organizations; 
organizations for purchasing hay and 
other forage; office of agricultural account- 
ing; the Danish agricultural crisis; agricul- 
tural instruction; state seed experiment 
station; and a large establishment for the 
selection of seeds. 



December, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



181 



Essential Factors in Determining the Feasibility of a Project 

From Bulletin No. 21; Irrigation Districts in California, Division of Engineering and Irrigation, Department of Public 

California 

By Prof. Frank Adams, University of California 



E more important matters to con- 
sider are the following: 

(a) The character of the soils in suffi- 
cient detail to show the location and areas 
of alkali and other unprofitable or mar- I 
ginal lands. These are always the first | 
to go delinquent and thus pass their 
burden of assessments on to the better 
lands. A soil map, prepared by a com- 
petent soil specialist, is the most effective 
way to present this information. 

(b) The best use that can be made of 
the land after irrigation water is avail- 
able, with a showing of the yield of differ- 
ent crops to which the land is suited, and 
evidence that the market for those crops 
has a favorable outlook, at least during 
the period of settlement and development. 

(c) The capital cost of the proposed 
irrigation system for each of the principal 
grades of land to be included, with a 
showing in each case that these costs are 
justified. No estimate of capital cost is 
a safe guide that does not include all im- 
portant items, whether needed immediate- 
ly or at some future time, unless it is cer- 
tain that such items can be postponed 
beyond the main development period, 
and this is practically never the case. 
The cost of lateral distribution, whether 
included in the district system or to be 
built at the expense of landowners, is as 
much a part of the total capital cost as is 
the cost of the main canal and other 
principal works. Another needed capital 
item that irrigation districts have fre- 
quently left out of their 'calculations is 
drainage, or such type of construction as 
will lessen the need for it; a third is 
storage for late summer supply, now, 
however, less frequently left out of con- 
sideration because most new projects are 
predicated on storage. 

(d) The cost of farm irrigation distri- 
bution systems and structures and of the 
preparation of the land for planting and 
irrigation, to be determined by surveys 
of typical areas generally representative 
of the whole project. The irrigation dis- 
trict that starts its construction program 
without this information, definitely ob- 
tained through field study by a competent 
irrigation or agricultural engineer experi- 
enced in such matters, lacks the answer 
to one of the first of the settlement prob- 
lems that must be met before the project 
becomes successful. 

(e) The probable annual irrigation cost 
to water users, including interest and 
principal of bonds. This information is 
satisfactory only if it is shown for each of 
the principal grades of land included. 
Average project costs of maintenance and 
operation in districts in which the ranee 



of land valuations for purposes of district 
assessment is considerable are obviously 
misleading and unsatisfactory. 

(/) The size of farm units necessary for 
successful farming within the district, 
with due regard to the economic types of 
farming to which it has been found the 
project is suited. 

(0) The probable cost of land to those 
who are to farm it and the terms on which 
it can be purchased. The speculative in- 
crease in the price of unirrigated land 
which almost always follows the organiza- 
tion and development of an irrigation 
project adds greatly to the difficulties of 
the project, and frequently results in the 
failure of many of the settlers who might 
otherwise have succeeded. There is need 
for some means by which this speculative 
increase can be prevented. The present 
Federal reclamation policy is to require 
binding agreements from landowners to 
sell to settlers at fixed, nonspeculative 
prices. A similar effort has been made in 
one California irrigation district which 
recently completed its irrigation system. 

(h) The probable cost of farm develop- 
ment, including the cost of such major 
items as the farm irrigation system, prep- 
aration of the land for planting and irriga- 
tion, planting, livestock, building, equip- 
ment, interest on deferred payments, and 
irrigation and other assessments, both 
general and special, and annual water 
tolls, if any. 

(1) Where it is proposed to obtain the 
"settlers" with the necessary capital (as 



well as the experience and agricultural 
temperament needed for success in farm- 
ing) to utilize the land for which water is 
to be made available. In this connection 
it is justifiable to require a definite show 
ing by the promoters of the new irrigation 
district enterprise which will open for 
settlement large areas of land that with 
completion of construction enough land 
will be promptly brought under irrigation 
and be planted to crops that can be grown 
at a profit to insure payment to the dis- 
trict of district carrying charges. General 
assurances that the land will be promptly 
utilized are not sufficient. 

The amount of land in a district that 
can remain unutilized and still pay the 
added costs resulting from the develop- 
ment and operation of an irrigation sys- 
tem is of course dependent on the financial 
resources of its owners. In some Cali- 
fornia irrigation districts the amount has 
been fairly large, but in many of them 
it has been relatively small, if the amount 
of delinquencies in "new" districts after 
interest and operation costs have begun 
to accrue can be taken as a criterion. 

(j) The capital and credit facilities 
needed for settlement and development of 
the land and where they are to be ob- 
tained. The amount of money or credit 
required to carry farms of different types 
to the point of sustaining themselves can 
now be estimated with reasonable accu- 
racy, and the failure to consider this 
factor inevitably results in disaster to 
many individuals and to some projects. 




Alfalfa hay grown on cultivated land adjacent to the Vale project, Oregon 



182 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



December, 1920 



Problems in Handling Large Construction Work by Contract 



By F. A. Banl^s, Construction Engineer, Owyhee project. Oregon-Idaho 



OF the $13,000,000 appropriated by 
Congress from the reclamation 
fund for expenditure during the past 
fiscal year, over $10,000,000 was for 
construction work to be handled by 
contract, the remainder being for surveys, 
construction by Government forces, oper- 
ation, maintenance, and miscellaneous 
work. 

In addition, the unexpended balances 
of previous appropriations were also, in 
some instances, made available for ex- 
penditure. In the administration of this 
volume of work, involving the expendi- 
ture of 75 per cent of the bureau's funds, 
certain problems were bound to arise. 

The construction of public works in- 
volves a service to the general public 
and in many instances the acceptance of 
a vital responsibility by those to whom 
the work is intrusted. The work must 
be worth what it costs to those against 
whom the cost is assessed and it must 
perform the service for which it was in- 
tended. In the construction of works of 
a major character upon the safety of 
which the public must rely, too much 
stress can not be laid upon employing 
such methods and surrounding them with 
such safeguards as will yield the best 
results. 

CONSTRUCTION BY CONTRACT 

One of the methods of handling public 
work is by contract through competitive 



bidding. It is with this method that this 
paper deals. 

The policy of constructing public 
works by contract is predicated upon the 
proper correlation of the ability, training, 
experience, and other necessary qualifi- 
cations of those two groups of professional 
and business men ordinarily referred to 
as engineers and contractors. Upon the 
engineer rests the responsibility for the 
preparation of the plans and specifications 
for the work and the execution of the 
work by the contractor in accordance 
therewith. Upon the contractor rests 
the responsibility of so organizing his 
forces, developing his methods, and 
utilizing his resources that he can per- 
form the work at a rate and cost and in 
a manner that will justify the award of 
the work to him. Under this plan, when 
properly administered, every item or 
phase of public interest is properly served 
and safeguarded. The great public works 
of this country that have been con- 
structed by this method are monuments 
to its success. 

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 

Whenever a task exceeds the capabilities 
of one individual its accomplishment be- 
comes a problem in organization and 
administration, and this, in my opinion, 
is the greatest problem in handling any 
large work. In administering the civil- 
service rules and the regulations govern- 




Blasting stumps in land-clearing operations, Kittitas division, Yakima project, Washington 



ing appointments in the field service I 
presume that most of us have discovered 
some problems for solution. It is some- 
times just as important to the efficiency 
of an organization to effect a separation as 
to secure an appointment; but the process 
is liable to be even more difficult. If it 
so happens that the desire for the separa- 
tion of an undesirable is coincidental with 
a general reduction in forces, it is easily 
gratified; but during the period of expan- 
sion of an organization the weeding out 
process becomes a real problem so far as 
it affects classified employees and em- 
phasizes the necessity for a careful survey 
of the employees during their probationary 
period. 

In developing an organization it is no 1 
merely essential to fit the round pegs into 
the round holes; there must be teamwork 
and a spirit of cooperation and loyalty if 
the best results are to be obtained. 

Too little attention is frequently paid 
to personnel matters, yet this is a most 
important factor in developing an efficient 
organization. In adjusting salaries a 
graph can be used to good advantage to 
indicate at a glance the compensation of 
each employee and the dates of changes. 
Every effort should be made to secure the 
proper relationship between the capa- 
bilities of the men and their compensation. 

SELECTION OF THE CONTRACTOR 

The multiplicity of the problems of con- 
struction and their seriousness from the 
standpoint of the engineer are very closely 

i associated with the selection of the con- 

j tractor, and in this matter the engineer 

I engaged in public work has little or no 
voice. It is common practice among 

i private corporations when advertising for 
construction work to invite proposals from 
a half dozen or so contractors who they 

i are satisfied are well qualified to handle 
the contemplated work. Ample compe- 
tition is secured and satisfactory results 
are obtained. Many of the difficulties 
encountered in the construction of public 
works by contract could be avoided if 
some such plan could be followed by the 
Government. A recent decision, how- 

1 ever, by the comptroller (A-24906) fore- 
stalls any limitation of bidders on Govern- 
ment work and is of interest to Govern- 

i ment officers in charge of construction 
work being handled by contract. In this 

j case the Treasury Department attempted 

' to limit the bidders on the new Internal 
Revenue Building at Washington, D. C., to 

! contractors who had, within the past four 
years, constructed a building costing 
$2,500,000 or more. The comptroller 



December, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



183 



ruled that "there may be no exclusion of 
bidders for the performance of Govern- 
ment work; but in awarding contracts for 
such work, there may be taken into consid- 
eration, when specified in the advertise- 
ment for bids, the business and technical 
organization or nucleus thereof of a con- 
tractor available for Government construc- 
tion work, his experience in building, and 
the financial resources of the contractor 
sufficient to enable it to finance such part of 
the work as is not financed by the United 
States." The comptroller also, in this deci- 
sion, drafted a paragraph which, with some 
modification, might be inserted to advan- 
tage in future notifications to prospective 
bidders. Without some such paragraph, it 
has been very difficult in the past to justify 
the rejection of the lowest bid, even though 
there were ample evidence to support such 
action. In the future, upon proper show- 
ing, such action may be possible. 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF CONSTRUC- 
TION 

The selection to be made by the con- 
tractor of the superintendent to represent 
him on the job is a most important factor 
in the success of the undertaking. A 
superintendent, who is experienced in the 
particular class of work covered by the 
contract, not only has a large personal 
advantage over others not so experienced; 
but, what is fully as important, he usually 
has a following of experienced men in the | 
minor positions who are ready to under- 
take their respective duties with a mini- 
mum of instruction. It does not take a 
crew of this kind long to get under way. | 
Plans and programs are worked out well 
in advance and reviewed by the engineer- 
ing staff, with the result that errors, if 
any, are detected and corrected before 
they become of consequence and the work 
progresses with the smoothness of a well- 
operated machine. Obstacles mean little ' 
to an organization" of this kind and there 
is some satisfaction in working with it. r 
A superintendent of my acquaintance 
always introduced the principal inspector 
to each new foreman or subforeman in 
some such manner as this: "This is the 
Government inspector. He will tell you : 
how he wants this work done. I want 
you to do it just that way and get it done 
to the best interest of the company." 
This, I believe, represents the attitude 
of many of the most reliable and expe- 
rienced contractors and promotes a spirit 
of mutuality that goes a long way in 
solving the problems that arise. 

With an inexperienced superintendent, 
the problems are too numerous to men- 
tion. His own subordinates are quick to 
notice the mistakes, their support is lost, 
inefficiency develops, attempts are made 
to shift the responsibility, losses occur, 
the contract is suspended, litigation and 



delay result. Perhaps the bondsmen un- 
dertake the contract or it is readvertised, 
all of which add materially to the prob- 
lems of the engineer. 

REDUCING THE CONTRACTOR'S RISK 

In handling large construction work by 
contract a saving to the Government gen- 
erally results when the risk to be taken 
by the contractor and the contractor's 
investment is reduced to a minimum con- 
sistent with protection of the Govern- 
ment's interest. This is usually accom- 
plished through the furnishing by the 
Government of materials becoming a part 
of the completed work, through a thor- 
ough exploration of the site of the work 
to develop subsurface conditions as to 
bedrock and materials to be excavated, 
through a proper prepaiation of the 
schedule of quantities and classification of 
materials, through the location of sources 
of such material as concrete aggregates, 
riprap, earth borrow, etc., through the 
furnishing of power and transportation 
facilities, and through the submission of 
plans and specifications in sufficient detail 
to permit the contractor to prepare an 
intelligent bid. Best results are more 
liable to be obtained in cases where the 
contractor has been furnished with com- 
plete information with respect to the 
work, and most of the contractor's diffi- 
culties have developed from a lack of 
information furnished him or his in- 
ability to interpret such as he had. 

EXPLORATION OF DAM FOUNDATION 

The exploration of the foundation for 
a large dam is one of the interesting and 



important functions of the engineer and 
is usually accomplished in cooperation 
with the geologist, the value of whose 
advice in laying out exploration programs 
and in interpreting their results has long 
been recognized by the Bureau of Recla- 
mation in the selection of sites for dams 
and reservoirs. 

At Arrowrock the foundation con- 
sisted of massive granite to unknown 
depths with a relatively small cap of lava 
plainly exposed to view on the left abut- 
ment. The exploration in this case 
merely served to determine the depth of 
alluvium over the bedrock and confirm 
previous impressions as to the quality 
and extent of bedrock. This was done 
by wash boring and diamond drilling. 

At American Falls the geology of the 
dam site could be determined with 
reasonable accuracy from exposures in 
the canyon below the falls and a study of 
faulting in the immediate vicinity of the 
dam site. Prior to exploration it was 
suspected that the site was crossed by a 
fault, that the sequence of strata from the 
surface down was basalt, spherulitic ob- 
sidian, and tuff overlain by volcanic ash 
on either side of the river bed. The ex- 
ploration, which was done with an ordi- 
nary well-drilling rig, determined the 
depth of soil over bedrock on either side 
of the river, the thickness of the basalt 
and obsidian strata, and not only located 
the fault but determined the amount of 
its displacement at different points, and 
permitted the location of the dam at a 
point where the displacement and result- 
ing shattering were negligible. 




Looking down the Main Canal, near Easton, Washington, Kittitas division, Yakima project 



184 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



December, 1929 



At the Owyhee Dam site, the height and 
magnitude of the structure and the result- 
ing high pressures and stresses justified 
a most searching examination of the dam 
site involving over 3,000 linear feet of 
wash boring and 4,000 linear feet of core 
drilling in connection with which the river 
bed was penetrated to a depth of 264 feet 
and the right and left abutments 435 feet 
and 140 feet, respectively. The drilling 
confirmed the early impressions of the 
geologist that the canyon comprising the 
dam site was formed by the river cutting 
through a tongue of felsite or ryolite en- 
veloped in pitchstone agglomerate all of 
which was extruded over tufaceous con- 
glomerate or tuff. The topography indi- 
cated that the thickness of the ryolite at 
the dam site was about 325 feet above low 
water and that its width corresponding to 
the length of the box canyon was about 
2,000 feet. The borings developed the 
additional information that the ryolite 
extended for 200 feet below low water 
with an average of 20 feet of pitchstone 
agglomerate and an indeterminate amount 
of tuff below it and that it extended in a 
horizontal direction normal to the canyon 
beyond the limits that it was possible to 
explore with the available equipment. 
One of the important facts developed by 
the borings and one that played an impor- 
tant part in the location of the dam was 
that there was a material increase in the 
thickness of the ryolite below low water 
as the testing progressed downstream 
from the upper end of the box. This led 
to the selection of the present site, which 
is about 600 feet downstream from the 
upper edge of the ryolite or about a third 
of the distance through the canyon. 

Another important development as a 
result of drilling was the discovery of a 



fault through the dam site that undoubt- 
edly started the formation of the canyon. 
The fault zone is about 10 feet wide and 
is filled with crushed ryolite that indicates 
little movement in the mass. It was 
located while attempting to determine 
the lowest point in the foundation which 
is so essential in computing quantities 
and planning cofferdams. Its location 
was subsequently verified by crosscutting 
the base of the canyon with inclined 
holes. The discovery of this fault of 
course promptly raised the question as to 
the probable amount of movement and 
the chance of its recurrence. What 
seems to be an extension of the fault into 
the canyon walls was explored, from 
which it appears that the movement was 
slight and in a horizontal direction. Al- 
though assurance that future movement 
will not take place can not be given, the 
probability of it is more or less remote. 
The presence of the fault was an impor- 
tant factor in influencing the change in 
the design from a light to a heavy arch 
section and in embodying a provision for 
the treatment of the fault zone in the 
plans and specifications and emphasizes 
the necessity for thorough exploration. 

LOCATION OF CONCRETE AGGREGATES 

The location of a sufficient volume of 
suitable concrete aggregates is of major 
importance in the production of large 
volumes of concrete. Prior to the con- 
struction of the American Falls Dam a 
large part of the concrete aggregates 
used in that vicinity .were hauled by 
train for 65 miles. A careful search of 
the adjacent territory revealed an almost 
unlimited supply of most excellent mate- 
rial adjacent to the railroad with a haul 
of only 15 miles. When tested by the 



Bureau of Standards at Denver it devel- 
oped to be one of the heaviest aggre- 
gates ever tested there and to produce 
concrete of the highest strength. The 
sand, however, had a fineness modulus 
of about 4, which was too coarse, and 
grinding was attempted. The material 
was so hard that grinding proved to be 
impractical, and the problem was solved 
by introducing sufficient sand with a 
fineness modulus of about 2 to make a 
workable mix. The finer sand was 
located within a mile of the dam, hauled 
on trucks, and blended on the belt 
running from the stock pile to the mixing 
plant. It so happened that a shortage 
of sand developed in the main pit, so 
that all material taken from this pit 
could be used in the concrete without 
wasting any aggregates. 

Preliminary plans for the construction 
of the Owyhee Dam, which was originally 
planned as a thin arch structure, contem- 
plated the use of local sand, gravel, and 
crushed rock. Suitable materials in suffi- 
cient quantities could not be located 
nearer than Adrian, 22 miles away, and 
a railroad was consequently located to 
connect the Owyhee Dam site with a 
branch line of the Oregon Short Line 
Railroad at that point. Subsequently a 
large body of sand, gravel, and cobbles 
of excellent quality and of sufficient 
volume to satisfy the requirements of 
the entire project was located near 
Dunaway Siding, 24 miles from Owyhee 
Dam site and 7 miles from Adrian, 
and the location of the lower 10 miles 
of the railroad was changed to connect 
with the same branch line at this pit. 
The superiority of these aggregates for 
the production of a strong, impervious 
concrete with a minimum amount of 












Typical farm home under pumping district, Owyhee project, Oregon-Idaho. Field of red clover in foreground 



December, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



185 



cement has been verified by numerous 
tests in the laboratory of the Bureau of 
Standards at Denver and in the field 
laboratory at the Owyhee Dam site. 

CONCRETE MIXES 

The importance of design and field 
control of concrete mixes to produce 
required uniformity, workability, imper- 
meability, and strength in the construc- 
tion of dams and other structures of 
magnitude is quite generally recognized. 
The problems involved emphasize the 
necessity for the establishment of a field 
laboratory equipped not only for the test- 
ing of the cement, but, what is of much 
greater importance, for the mechanical 
analysis of aggregates and the testing of 
compression of concrete produced from 
them. 

INSPECTION 

The matter of inspection is one con- 
cerning which much might be said with- 
out covering any new ground. That it 
is of major importance on construction 
work being handled by contract is well 
understood. A contractor on important 
construction work is entitled to the serv- 
ices of a high-grade inspector with train- 
ing, experience, and ability commensurate 
with his duties. He should be the point 
of contact between the engineer and the 
contractor, and it is important that all 
orders and instructions to the contractor 
be given through him in order that he 
may have first-hand knowledge as to all 
details and be at all times sure of his 
ground. An inspector who is merely a 
critic has not sensed his real function in 
the organization. His work should be 



constructive. By frequent conferences 
with the contractor's representatives, he 
should make sure that a satisfactory 
program is contemplated and have his 
engineering work far enough in advance 
to prevent delay to the contractor. It 
is his duty to see that the contractor has 
been furnished with the latest drawings, 
that the old ones have been plainly 
marked "superseded," and that all work 
is laid out, checked from every angle, 
and performed in accordance with the 
plans and specifications. 

CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 

Although the classification of material 
does not usually develop to be a matter of 
very great importance in the construction 
of large dams, particularly masonry dams, 
it does constitute one of the principal 
problems in handling large excavation 
projects by contract. This is due partly 
to the fact that our specifications for 
classification have not kept pace with 
progress made in excavation methods, 
with the result that an attempt is now 
being made to classify dragline and shovel 
work with a team specification. 

THE PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS 

The essence of success in handling con- 
struction work by contract is embodied 
in the plans and specifications. No phase 
of engineering requires such keen vision 
and forethought or such a thorough 
knowledge of engineering principles and 
their application to construction in the 
field as must be utilized in taking a mass 
of data in the form of topographic maps, 
diamond-drilling and test-pit records, 



hydrometric studies, and reports on 
geology and preparing from them a set 
of plans and specifications in which are 
illustrated and described the most inti- 
mate details of the work and just how it 
should be performed. The engineers of 
this bureau responsible for this type of 
engineering are to be commended in the 
highest terms for the excellency of their 
work. The recent act of Congress in- 
trusting to this bureau the design and 
construction of one of the world's largest 
structures is ample testimony of the 
public's appraisal of its ability. 



Production Program For 

An Individual Farm 

In planning and budgeting a production 
program for an individual farm crops and 
a cropping system should be selected that 
are adapted to the soil conditions of the 
farm in question and for which there is a 
market outlet. Crop yields which expe- 
rience has shown may be expected on this 
farm should be used in figuring production. 
Expense items should be estimates with 
due regard to the type and condition of 
the soil to be worked and the labor and 
equipment available for use. Finally, 
though perhaps most important of all, 
prices which are likely to prevail when the 
products are to be marketed should be 
used in estimating expected receipts. Too 
frequently the prices which prevail at 
planting time or which were received for 
the previous year's crops are used in decid- 
ing how much of this and that crop to 
plant. Extension Circular No. 60, Uni- 
versity of Arizona. 












Sheep on alfalfa pasture on the Kittitas division of the Yakima project, Washington 



186 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



December, J929 




Reclamation Project Women and Their Interests 

By Mae A. Schnurr, Assistant to the Commissioner and Associate Editor New Reclamation Era 




Junior Club Activities on Reclamation Projects 



Project, Washington 



YAKIMA project boys and girls are 
of the same high quality as some of 
its more widely advertised agricultural 
products, and they have accomplished 
some excellent results in their 4-H clubs. 
This year Yakima County has 66 junior 
clubs, with an enrollment of 194 boys and 
343 girls. Of this number 150 boys and 
214 girls completed the year's work. 

The boys' clubs are confined to farming 
and stock raising, the various projects 
including cereals, horticulture, live stock, 
and bee keeping. The girls' projects this 
year covered home demonstration work, 
foods, clothing and house furnishings, and 
a few enrolled in stock-raising clubs. 

The corn clubs made an especially good 
showing this year. For the third succes- 
sive year Wallace Gregg, of the Harrah 
Corn Club, won the corn sweepstakes at 
the Pacific International Live Stock Show 
at Portland, and at the Yakima Valley 
Corn Show the exhibits of the junior clubs 
showed a higher quality and more care in 
their selection than those of the adult 
exhibitors. In the acre contest, in which 
only club members competed, Lawrence 
Faulkner, of Harrah, was first with 81.1 
bushels, and five others raised from 64.5 
bushels to 58.8 bushels per acre. Yields 
per acre averaged much lower than for the 
previous year, but the lowest was more 
than 20 bushels higher than the average 



production for the county. Club mem- 
bers sold seed corn to adult growers in the 
county for 1 cent per bushel more than 
ordinary seed, and the demand was good. 

The sheep clubs, which originally 
raised only orphan or "bummer" lambs, 
have now developed until 15 boys have 
purebred sheep. 

Ten swine clubs have a membership of 
68 boys and 6 girls. Perry B. Woodall, of 
Zillah, won the honor of being the out- 
standing pig club boy of the State, which 
included a trip to the International Live 
Stock Show at Chicago as a guest of 
Armour & Co. 

Six dairy clubs, with an enrollment of 
47 boys and 8 girls, include one purebred 
Holstein and one pruebred Jersey club, 
sponsored by the dairy committee of the 
Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce. Yak- 
ima business men have formed a perpetual 
calf club by presenting nine boys with as 
many registered Holstein calves, and it is 
I hoped that an equal number of Jersey 
and Guernsey calves will soon be secured. 

With the girls the most popular club 
activity is the sewing club, of which there 
are 244 members, divided into 22 clubs. 
Cooking and canning come next, with 13 
clubs and 112 members. 

An excellent showing was made in club 
members' exhibits at the State fair this 
year. Prize money won for all classes of 
exhibits totaled $868.75, in addition to 
which 73 hogs belonging to club members 




4-H Club heifers at spring Dairy Show, MInldoka project, Idaho 



were sold by the county agent to a local 
packing company for 11 cents a pound, 
amounting to $1,552, and 25 head of 
sheep, at 10 cents per pound, brought 
$220.70, making the total return to club 
members from the State fair $2,641.45. 

Forty-five 4-H Club members attended 
the club camp at Pullman, Wash., in 
June, and on July 12 delegates to the 
camp held a picnic for the club members of 
the county at the State fair grounds at 
Yakima. Five hundred and thirty mem- 
bers attended. Games were played in the 
morning, there was a big picnic lunch at 
noon, and in the afternoon there was a 
short program and charters were pre- 
sented to new clubs and seals to those who 
had successfully completed the previous 
year's work. The day closed with a kitty 
ball contest between club members who> 
went to camp and those who stayed at 
home, with the stay at homes winning 
5 to 4. 

Junior club activities in Yakima County 
have for several years been under the 
supervision of Assistant County Agent 
Henry M. Walker, and after his resigna- 
tion on September 1, 1929, the year's 
work was completed by County Agent 
A. E. Lovett. 

Minidoka Project, Idaho 

In Minidoka County there are now 5 
clubs, which include a calf club with IS 
members, 3 beet clubs with 20 members, 
and a turkey club with 7 members. The 
calf club has been especially vigorous and 
has taken part in stock-judging contests 
and similar activities. 

There are 13 clubs in Cassia County, 
which comprise 3 sewing clubs with 30 
members, 6 beet clubs, with 50 members, 
and 4 calf clubs with 50 members. 

A number of prizes have been offered 
the clubs, in contests, for excellence in 
various activities. The Amalgamated 
Sugar Co. offered $75 in each of Minidoka 
and Cassia Counties; the city of Burley 
offered a prize of $50, while the Union 
Pacific Railroad offered $100 in cash and 
transportation to and from the State 
University at Moscow to the best club 
boy or girl in each county who would 
attend the university for one year. Last 
year the Dairy Calf Club at Malta won 
medals for their work in demonstration 
teams and in judging at the Blackfoot Fair. 



December, 1929 



NEW BECLAMATION ERA 



187 



All the clubs, both in Minidoka and 
Cassia Counties, have succeeded in arous- 
ing a keen interest among the young 
people in the various activities of the 
farm and home. 

During the spring of 1929 there were 
5 calf club shows on the project, at which 
71 calves were shown. One of these 
shows was given at Rupert, and was in 
the form of a picnic, attended by some 60 
club members and their parents and 
friends. Demonstrations were given by 
the young people of judging and feeding 
cattle, milk testing, and fitting animals 
for shows. The young judges are re- 
ported to have shown remarkable ability 
and knowledge of their subjects in these 
demonstrations. 

Klamath Project, Oregon-California 

Four-H Club work was organized in 
Klamath County 10 years ago, with about 
125 members. The number has been 
steadily increasing until at the present 
time we have enrolled over 500 boys and 
girls in the various projects. Sewing, i 
cooking, potato, poultry, dairy calf, and 
rabbit clubs have the largest enrollment. 

Teams have been trained to judge four 
classes of livestock, and these teams have 
competed at State fairs and at the Pacific 
International Livestock Exposition with 
other teams of Oregon. They have in- 
variably made a very creditable showing. 
Mr. Frank Sexton, county club agent, is 
in charge of the work. 

This year 40 boys were enrolled in the 
potato work. Each member is required 
to plant at least one-eighth of an acre of 
potatoes of a standard variety. The boys 
care for these potatoes during the growing 
season and follow the instructions given 
them in the bulletins distributed. The 
boys are trained to grade and judge 
potatoes, select seed and exhibits. Fine 
exhibits of potatoes have been shown at 
the county and State fairs during the past 
five years. Prizes have been awarded 
several times to Klamath County potato 
exhibitors. 

During the past four years a team con- 
sisting of two boys has competed with ' 
other potato-grading teams at the Pacific 
International. 

Girls' demonstration teams are being 
trained this year and demonstrate the 
methods of cooking and sewing at the 
county and State fairs. 

Several reels of pictures have been made 
showing the activities of the Klamath 
County boys' and girls' club work at the 
county fair and at the summer school. 
These pictures are shown in practically 
every community of the county and 
stimulate interest. Large delegations of 
boys and girls have attended the summer 




Members of the Marion Calf Club judging sheep, Minidoka project, Idaho 



school held at Corvallis during the past 
seven years. Klamath County has usually 
had the largest delegation at summer 
school. The course takes two weeks and 
consists of a short course in gardening, 
potato growing, livestock work, including 



judging, cooking, sewing, and canning. 

Klamath County has a larger per cent 
of boys and girls of club age enrolled in 
club work than any other county in the 
State. A great pride is felt in this 
showing. 



International Water Commission 

United States and Mexico 



f I ^HE third session of the commission, 

_|_ held in Washington, D. C., extended 

from October 22 to November 9, inclusive. 

Its meetings were held in the board of 
directors' room of the Pan American 
Union. Entertainment and many cour- 
tesies were extended by the Pan American 
Union, the Ambassador of Mexico, Sr. 
Don Manuel C. Tellez, the Secretary of 
State, the Secretary of War, and the 
Secretary of the Interior. 

The American commission was created 
by an act of Congress, which requires the 
submission of a report to Congress. The 
Mexican commission was created by 
administrative act, but after a discussion 
of the information gathered, it was the 
conclusion of both sections that the time 
had arrived for making a report to their 
respective Governments. 

The American section is engaged in the 
preparation of its report, which will be 
transmitted through the Department of 
State to Congress for consideration at its 
next meeting, to convene December 2, 
1929. 

A photograph of the personnel of the 
commission appeared in the November 
issue of the EHA. Two reclamation people 
are serving on this commission. The 



Commissioner of Reclamation, Doctor 
Elwood Mead, is chairman of the Ameri- 
can section, and assistant to the commis- 
sioner, Miss M. A. Schnurr, is secretary. 



Prosperity Figures for 
Mesilla Valley 

That the Mesilla Valley, under the Rio 
Grande project, is enjoying a year of 
prosperity is clearly shown by the follow- 
ing figures submitted by shippers, bankers, 
railroad men, and agricultural specialists. 

Cotton shipments for 1929 will increase 
at least 20 per cent over 1928. Fruit 
growers will ship out this season 1,000 cars 
of cantaloupes, 25 cars of pears, and 300 
cars of apples. 

Since the first of January, 1929, 60 cars 
of cabbages and 177 cars of cotton seed 
products have been shipped from Las 
Cruces. 

Cattlemen report better range condi- 
tions than for many years previous, and 
calves are contracted at $45. 

The banks of Dona Ana County show 
an increase of 75 per cent in deposits over 
the same period a year ago. 



188 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



December, 1929 



Producing Palisade Peaches, Grand Valley Project, Colorado 



TWO facts concerning the peacl 
industry at Palisade, Colo., wer 
self-evident to a group of 80 peach grow 
ers from Utah who recently investigatec 
the orchards in this vicinity. Thes 
were, first, that the growers are making 
money; second, that the orchards are 
uniformly well cared for. 

Peach culture in a small area near 
Palisade, where surrounding mountain^ 
and good air drainage along the Colorado 
River insure immunity from spring frosts 
has been carried on for nearly 25 years 
The favored area was relatively smal 
until the reconstruction of the irrigation 
system for Orchard Mesa by the Bureau 
of Reclamation made possible the develop- 
ment of some 2,000 acres which will, 
when in full production,' about double the 
output. 

Practically all fruit is shipped fresh, 
- and during 1929 a total of 1,600 carloads 
were supplied to markets in the Middle 
West. It is estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 
cars will be required when young orchards 
reach full production. 

YIELDS AND PROFITS LARGE 

The returns to the producers are high 
and profits great when conditions are 
normal. Losses occur occasionally on 
marginal lands from spring frosts, 'and 
also from failure of transportation and 
marketing facilities, but the average 
profits over a long period for good com- 
mercial orchards are exceeded by very 
few agricultural or horticultural products. 

Yields of 1,500 to 2,000 boxes (600 to 
800 bushels) per acre are common and net 
profits of $500 to $1,000 per acre are 
realized in normal years. These returns 
are reflected in land valuations, since 
orchards sell at $1,500 to $2,500 per acre 
with only reasonable improvements in 
the way of buildings and appurtenances. 

Such returns and valuations are possible 
only through production of maximum 
yields of quality fruit, well processed by 
careful grading and packing, marketed 
with a minimum expense and loss, and of 
most vital importance, the concentration 
by the entire community on a few stand- 
ard varieties and grades. 

PROPER ORCHARD MANAGEMENT 
ESSENTIAL 

Although it is recognized that there are 
relatively few localities where peaches can 
be produced successfully and that Pali- 
sade has a favorable climatic condition 



By J. C. Page, Superintendent, Grand Valley Project 

combined with good natural soil and an 
ample water-supply, the enormous yield 
there mvst, to a large extent, depend on 
the methods of culture almost universal!, 
adopted after many years' experience 
These practices are apparent to any visi 
tor and consist of the major requirement 
for proper orchard management, i. e., 
cultivation, pruning, fertilizing, ham 
thinning, irrigation, and spraying. 

The beginning is made before the 
orchard is planted, when the ground is 
carefully prepared for uniform and easy 
irrigation. Best results have been ob- 
tained when the virgin land is then sowec 
to alfalfa and hay produced for two or 
three years. This is then plowed under 
and good trees of the variety selected are 
set with spacing from 16 to 20 feet. 
The orchard is then cultivated after each 
irrigation and crops between the rows are 
restricted to those which do not sap the 
soil to the detriment of the trees. 

"TOP PRUNING" VERSUS "LONG 
PRUNING" 

The young trees are formed to the 
proper shape by early pruning and as 
they grow are annually pruned to remove 
old wood and force the growth of new 
limbs and fruit spurs. Practically all 
trees are "top pruned," but some agita- 
tion has arisen for a change from this 
practice to conform to that of Calif 01- 
nia's so-called "long pruning," which is 
also recommended by a local experiment 
station. The former method results in 
a flat-topped spreading tree forced out by 
the cutting of the top shoots, whereas the 
atter causes the spreading by thinning 
;he inside limbs and by the weight of the 
'ruit on longer limbs. The essential re- 
sults sought are a maximum of fruit- 
bearing twigs and a tree sufficiently open 
;o permit penetration of sunshine neces- 
sary for uniform ripening and coloring of 
.he fruit. 

Fertilizing is usually by a combination 
of green and barnyard manures with a 
imited use of minerals. Clean cultiva- 
ion is maintained until late in the sum- 
mer when weeds are allowed to grow or 
sats or vetch are sown to be plowed 
under in the fall. Sweet clover is not 
avored because of difficulty in irrigating 
and harvesting and a tendency to smother 
he trees. Barnyard manure shipped in 
rom outside areas is applied heavily 
uring winter months. 

All orchards are carefully thinned by 
land, removing all excess fruit from indi- 



vidual limbs, with special care to pick all 
undersized or deformed fruit. This is 
usually finished in June. 

IRRIGATION AND SPRAYING 

All irrigation is by means of furrows 
usually with six between the tree rows. 
The frequency of application and dura- 
tion of runs varies with the soil and 
weather conditions as well as with the 
size of the trees. A heavy application is 
essential shortly before harvest, result- 
ing in a rapid growth after the pit is 
formed. Late irrigation is not practiced 
since it retards seasoning of the wood for 
winter cold. 

Spraying is necessary to control the 
usual pests and ordinarily is required 
once in two years. Cutworms are con- 
trolled by circling the trunk of the tree 
with sticky preparations. Loss of fruit 
from such causes is maintained at a very 
nominal amount. 

ELBERTAS MOST FAVORED 

The early orchards were of many varie- 
ties but until recently the Elberta was 
most favored and almost entirely grown. 
The improved J. H. Hale is growing in 
popularity and considerable of the new 
plantings are of this variety. Both are 
harvested at the same time, usually late 
in August and early in September. When 
the harvest season approaches many tran- 
sient pickers and packers arrive to handle 
the crop and seldom is there a shortage of 
labor even though the fruit must be 
moved at a rate from 100 to 200 cars 
daily. 

The better fruit is mostly paper wrapped 
and packed in 2-tier wooden boxes hold- 
ing about 20 pounds each. These are 
stamped with name of variety, grade, and 
size and shipped in refrigerator cars. In 
the last few years a ring-faced, paper- 
ined bushel basket pack has gained favor 
especially for fruit slightly smaller and 
with less color or where conditions force 
very rapid marketing. The crop can be 
moved more rapidly and somewhat cheaper 
n this package, but the returns are gen- 
irally lower. 

The peach production in this section 
las resulted in the development of a 
la PPy, contented community with good 
lomes in pleasant surroundings with all 
modern conveniences. Everywhere are 
evidence of prosperity, which is sure to 
esult when returns of $1,500,000 are re- 
eived from some 2,000 acres. 



December, 1929 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



189 



A Model Town on the World's Greatest 
Artificial LaT^e 



Anew type of frontier town, to be 
built on the brink of the Colorado 
River, for the housing of the work- 
men who will construct Boulder Dam, is 
being planned by the Department of the 
Interior as a model community which is 
expected to live after the construction 
period has passed. 

Secretary Wilbur and Elwood Mead, 
Commissioner of Reclamation, selected 
the site for this town when they visited 
the Colorado early in the summer. It is 
on the Nevada side of the river on the 
nearest level land and a little more than 
a mile from the dam site. They have 
often conferred regarding the project since 
that time, and experts are working on 
details of the town plan. 

The new model community will be 
located at a point where Black Canyon 
widens out and affords a favorable setting. 
The dam itself will be a mile away over 
a chaos of broken hills. The bottom of 
the canyon, where the work must begin 
and where the greater part of it must be 
done, will be at a level 1,600 feet below the 
rim and the town. Into the bottom of the 
great canyon there will go every day a 
thousand men, who will emerge again when 
their work is done and return to the town. 
The task of lowering these men into 
the canyon and bringing them out again 
presents in itself a bit of spectacular 
engineering. It will be accomplished 
through the installation of huge elevators 
which will lift their passengers a perpen- 
dicular 1,000 feet, which is practically 
twice as great a lift as that which carries 
passengers to the top floors of our tallest 
skyscrapers. 

The Federal Government will retain 
ownership of the land on which the town 
is to be built, and will lease it to those 
who live on it or use it for commercial 
purposes. One of the features of these 
leases will be that they will continue only 
under the period of good behavior of the 
tenant. It is the intention of the Govern- 
ment that the bootlegger or other law 
violator shall not interfere with the well- 
being of its workmen while assigned to 
this huge task. The power to terminate 
leases, and therefore residence, in this 
town will be used as one of the means of 
enforcing proper conduct. Instead of a 
boisterous frontier town, it is hoped that 
here simple homes, gardens with fruits 
and flowers, schools, and playgrounds will 



make this a wholesome American com- 
munity. 

The construction of the great works at 
Black Canyon will require a period of 
eight years. Something like a thousand 
workmen will be constantly employed. 
With their families and those who are 
drawn to the dam site by the general 
activity, it is estimated that this town 
will have a population of some 4,000 
people. It should be borne in mind, 
however, that there is no employment at 
present nor will there be any for, per- 
haps, another year. 

When the reservoir is full, the water 
will come up the valley almost to the 
town, and the great lake will stretch 
away a hundred miles through a region of 
rare scenic beauty. The region is one of 
admirable healthfulness and it is thought 
that a popular resort may grow up here 
when the reservoir has been so developed 
as to provide its incidental attractions. 

Plans are already well developed for 
the construction of automobile highways 
from Las Vegas, Nev., and Kingman, 
Ariz., to the dam. When the dam is 
completed it will become a bridge as well, 
and link these two roads together. It 
will then become possible to come past 



this dam and see the reservoir on a trans- 
continental trip with little or no increase 
of the distance traveled. Eventually this 
will doubtless be a popular tourist route 
which will develop possibilities for the 
model town that is to look out upon the 
world's greatest artificial lake. The 
American City, November, 



Report on Economic 

Survey of Reclamation 

The committee of economic advisers 
appointed to correlate the reports of the 
investigators who made the economic sur- 
vey of reclamation this summer and to 
make recommendations thereon to the 
Secretary of the Interior, met in Washing- 
ton, D. C., during October. The advisers 
comprised Dr. Alvin Johnson, associate 
editor of the Encyclopedia of Social 
Science; Dean Anson Marston, Iowa State 
College; President Charles A. Lory, State 
Agricultural College of Colorado; Prof. 
Frank Adams, University of California; 
John W. Haw, director of agricultural 
development, Northern Pacific Railroad; 
A. C. Cooley, in charge of demonstrations 
on reclamation projects; George C. Kreut- 
zer, director of reclamation economics, 
Bureau of Reclamation, chairman; and 
Hugh A. Brown, assistant director of rec- 
lamation economics, secretary. 

The advisers met again in Chicago on 
November 15 and 16 for the preparation 
of the final draft of the report. 




Black Canyon diversion-dam, Boise project, Idaho 



190 



NEW RECLAMATION ERA 



December, 1929 



Cost and Efficiency in Producing Alfalfa Hay in Oregon 



* I ~^HE following summary is from 
JL Station Bulletin 241, of the agri- 
cultural experiment station, Oregon State 
Agricultural College, by H. E. Selby: 

SUMMARY 

1. This bulletin presents information 
on the cost of producing alfalfa hay in 
Oregon, the factory affecting it, and ways 
of reducing it. It has two objects 
First, to establish facts and principles for 
the use of (1) prospective and present 
alfalfa growers, (2) teachers and students 
of agriculture, and (3) those concerned 
with public problems and policies; second, 
to indicate to present alfalfa hay producers 
possibilities of reducing their costs. 

2. The facts presented were obtained 
in a state-wide study by the survey 
method of costs and practices in producing 
forage crops in Oregon during 1925, 1926, 
and 1927. This bulletin deals chiefly 
with alfalfa hay in the six principal alfalfa 
regions Malheur, Baker-Union, Uma- 
tilla, Deschutes, Klamath, and Rogue 
River which represent 80 per cent of the 
alfalfa acreage in the State. 

3. The average cost of production, 
weighted by the census acreage of alfalfa 
in each region, was $27.06 per acre and 
$7.96 per ton. The average cost of har- 
vesting a ton of hay was $3.42 for the 
farms using wagons or slips and $2.94 for 
those using buck rakes. 

4. In considering or using these cost 
figures as well as the detailed figures given 



in the cost summaries, three points 
should be kept in mind: (1) They include 
noncash as well as cash items of expense, 
and give the grower wages for his work 
and 5 per cent interest on his investment. 
(2) They are averages of widely varying 
cost of individual growers, and considera- 
tion should be given to the range and 
variation in cost. (3) Cost of production 
is only one of several factors affecting 
alfalfa hay production, all of which 
should be considered in connection with 
the crop. 

5. Averaging the six regions together, 
cash items were 41 per cent of the total 
cost; the unpaid labor of the operator and 
his family was 22 per cent; depreciation 
was 9 per cent; and interest was 28 per 
cent. 

6. There was little variation in the 
average cost in each region from year to 
year, but considerable variation in costs 
on different farms in the same year and in 
different years on the same farm. This 
variation in costs is caused partly by 
factors that the grower can not control 
for example, climatic conditions and 
partly by management factors that he 
can control. 

7 The factors affecting cost are classi- 
fied and discussed in four groups, as 
follows: 

(1) Harvesting methods and equipment. 
Slips were little, if any, more efficient than 
wagons, the ease of loading apparently 
being offset by the smaller loads. Haul- 




Irrigating sugar beets near Hurley Minldoka project, Idaho 



ing and stacking crews using slings stacked 
a third of a ton more hay per man per day 
than c